APAH: Amazonian Avenger
by Crimson Fox4
Summary: It's now been a month since the events that transpired in the original 'A Phoenix Among Hawks', and Piper is determined to rid Amazonia of its Cyclonian outpost in memory of her mother, but as always, not everything goes as planned... mild Aerrow x Piper
1. Prologue

**Well I'd first like to say thanks to Unleash the Shadow who is sticking with me, and will continue to edit my APAH series!**

**Secondly, I'd like to say welcome back everyone! This marks the start of the second addition to the _'A Phoenix Among Hawks_' series! Stop reading this note and go read already! ;P**

**I do not own the Storm hawks, they are the property of Nerd Corps.**

**(This prologue is written in Piper's POV by the way...)**

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A Phoenix Among Hawks

_**Amazonian Avenger**_

_Prologue_

Well, it's now been a month since I first rediscovered my shape shifting abilities; it's kind of hard to believe actually.

I've been hiding the secret of my abilities since I was five, and now suddenly Aerrow knew.

He _knew_.

He hasn't said anything to anyone else in our squadron yet, and as far as I know, he hasn't even told Radarr, and that's saying a lot considering Aerrow's co-pilot can't even talk.

I'm not sure if Aerrow knows or not, but I kind of broke my promise to him after only a few days after making it. So I hadn't actually _promised _Aerrow that I wouldn't use my shape shifting abilities until I was better, but it was implied that I would heed Aerrow's request. And I had, even if it was only for a few days.

But I couldn't help but feel guilty even though _technically_ I didn't have a reason to be.

The truth is that I can't imagine how I could have gotten through this last month without my nightly excursions.

I've been constantly thinking about everything leading up to and after our run in with the Cyclonians about a month ago when Master Cyclonis had used the knock out crystal and black out stone against myself and the rest of the Storm Hawks squadron.

So many questions have been flitting through my head, it's amazing that I've kept them all to myself and haven't randomly blurted them out, but it makes sense considering I haven't talked to everyone as much as I usually do.

Questions – I have too many of them.

I wanted to know why Master Cyclonis had ordered the Dark Ace to throw the guys into the wastelands, whereas she told him to put me in the prison.

I wanted to know what happened to my parents on that night all those years ago when the Cyclonians attacked my village.

I wanted to know if I was truly the only Amazonian left – if the Talons really had taken 'no prisoners'.

I wanted to know what the deal was with the Amplifying Stone. No, I just didn't _want_ to know the secrets behind the Amp Stone and my abilities, I _needed_ to know.

I wanted to know why Master Cyclonis seemed so shocked when I revealed that I wasn't a Talon when I had been helping Aerrow escape. How did Cyclonis know what the Amazonian Guardian looked like anyways? Wouldn't she have been almost too young to remember anything about the Guardian like I was?

Or did Cyclonis even know who the Amazonian Guardian was? She hadn't specifically called me that when I was disguised as how I remembered my mom to look. I know it's silly, my parents are dead… right? But I still can't help but remember the look that showed in Master Cyclonis' eyes when I was about to attack her as the Black Amazonian Panther. It was a look of recognition, although I still wasn't sure what exactly she had recognized.

But I think that the question that weighed heaviest in my heart was the one I already knew the answer to. Was Aerrow really my true love?

I know what we both saw in the cavern and everything, but I still couldn't help the feelings of denial I was going through. I've known Aerrow for over ten years now and it never really occurred to me until about a year ago that Aerrow was well… a guy? A guy that I might actually have the potential to well, like. As in, like _like_.

Up until then I had always thought of him as a close friend, or even a brother considering we had practically grown up together.

So, the reason why I loved my nightly flights as a phoenix so much was because I had to lend all of my concentration to the Amp Stone and building up enough energy to shift. This didn't give me the ability to think about much else, let alone all of the relentless questions buzzing around inside of my head.

The discreet midnight flights have probably been what's kept me from going crazy with all of these thoughts and questions that are currently swimming in my head. But just because I had to lend most or all of my concentration to shifting, it didn't mean I went completely brain dead.

It was actually during one of my more recent flights that I remembered the promise that I had made to myself, and to my parents a few weeks ago when I went to retrieve Aerrow's skimmer from Amazonia after he had been knocked out and captured by Cyclonians.

I had promised that I would do all I could to liberate my home terra from the rule of Cyclonia, even if there wasn't anything there for them to rule besides plants and the odd animal.

I had mainly made that promise to myself because I knew it would crush my mom to see Amazonia under Cyclonian rule – that is if she were still around….

Another part of me wanted to send those Talons back to Cyclonia with their tails between their legs though because of the legacy that I shared with my mom and who knows how many ancestors - the legacy of the Guardian of the Amp Stone.

Besides, plucking Amazonia out of Cyclonia's grasp was a way to get rid of my growing hatred against Cyclonia.

I know, I know. I should hate them anyways. And I do – its just too much hate isn't a good thing, especially when you're in a war.

Too much hate clouds your vision and judgment, makes you do stupid things, and makes you do things on an impulse or whim without thinking of the repercussions you may cause.

I didn't necessarily want revenge for my parent's deaths. I didn't want to kill anyone purposely. I just wanted to send my message across to Cyclonia that they hadn't gotten all of the Amazonians that night all those years ago, and I'd have to say that had to be one of their biggest mistakes yet.

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**Okay, I know its a little short, but what do you expect for a prologue? Anyways, hopefully my updating will be fairly regular now that its summer time, but I know that real life will get in my way every once in awhile, so keep that in mind, okay?**

**I'd also like to put it out in the open that I'm going to be gone for a couple weeks come the middle of July, so I'm aiming to get this done by then, but if I don't, I'll make sure to finish it once I get back, alright?**

**Well, thanks for reading you guys, and I hope I haven't disappointed any of you so far! This prologue was basically just to refresh your mind about a few things from the original APAH, and to give you an idea of what's to come in this story.**

**Crimson Fox4**

**PS. Any of you who are reading this for the first time and who are wondering what on earth is going on, well, check out the story that came before this one, 'A Phoenix Among Hawks', it might clear a few things up ;P Or you can just send me a message, and I'll try and give you a quick summary, how's that?**


	2. Pre emptive Measures

**Thanks goes out to Unleash the Shadow for helping me edit this chapter!**

**Alright, here's the first chapter for you all, and I'm starting off this story with a Cyclonian chapter for a change... can you believe that? Anyways, this chapter starts out in the Dark Ace's POV, enjoy!**

**I do not own the Storm Hawks, they are the property of Nerd Corps.**

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Chapter 1

_Pre-emptive Measures _

As I walked down the halls of Cyclonia that would lead me to Master Cyclonis' throne room, I noticed the halls were devoid of life or sound, save for the clinking of my metal armour.

_I wonder why Master Cyclonis summoned me... hopefully it's another chance to get rid of those Storm Hawk brats! Sure, I may have killed their pesky Sky Knight, but now that they have that renegade..._

Rounding another corner of many, I was now standing in front of two massive wooden doors with firebolt crystals embedded in them.

Not needing permission to enter, or having to be announced, I pushed the doors open and strode up to the throne where Master Cyclonis stood.

Bowing my head and pressing my clenched fist to my chest I said, "Master."

Looking up, I saw Master Cyclonis give my actions a curt nod before she said simply, "I have a job for you Dark Ace, and it needs to be done right for once."

"Of course Master." I replied.

Smiling, Master Cyclonis continued in explaining herself, and my mission. "I need you to go to our outpost on Amazonia."

_Why Amazonia? It's all of fifteen minutes away, __**why**__ would I need to go __**there**__?_

"Amazonia?" I asked, trying not to sound too displeased.

"Yes, Amazonia." Cyclonis looked at me for a moment before continuing, "I figured I wouldn't need to explain myself to you, but apparently, I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions."

I just stood there unmoving, trying to push down the thoughts of resentment because my Master thought I was as incompetent as Snipe or a mere Talon.

"It has come to my attention that the outpost on Amazonia may have a purpose other than its original one in our plan to destroy the Storm Hawks."

I nodded respectfully as she continued to speak, "Because of its close proximity to Cyclonia, it would be a perfect place to train and house a relief garrison if for some reason the Sky Knights try to attack Cyclonia. I need you to go there and train the Talons already there, and the Talons that you will be taking with you, understand?"

_I've never been fond of training others, but if its what the Master wants..._

"I'd be honoured," I began before adding hesitantly, "but if I may ask, do you have any other reason of sending me to an otherwise uninhabited terra?"

"Possibly." Was the only response I received from Master Cyclonis.

Knowing that she wasn't going to be telling me anymore anytime soon, I gave another quick bow before I turned around and headed for the door.

Just before I was about to exit the throne room I heard Master Cyclonis call out, "If you're lucky, maybe the Storm Hawks will show up. If they do, you may kill them all except for Piper. I am still in need of her natural abilities with crystals."

_Killing off the Storm Hawks?_

Turning around for a brief moment before heading out the door I said simply, "It would be my pleasure, Master Cyclonis."

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Master Cyclonis' POV

I found myself smiling as I walked down the many corridors and stairwells that all led further and further down into the depths of my palace.

_Who knew that an outpost that I set up just to lure the Storm Hawks into my grasp could yet have a purpose? Besides obvious military advantages, that is._

_It's now been a month or so since I've seen neither hide nor tail of those Storm Hawk, and I figure that if they're ever going to come out of hiding, they'll probably try to check out my new outpost again._

_What better welcoming party than the Dark Ace and a few well trained Talons? _

My smile soon faded though as I descended deep and deeper into the darkness of my palace, just as my thoughts were delving deeper and deeper.

_The women who called herself a 'hallucination' looked a whole lot like the Amazonian Guardian that my father managed to capture before he died. I'm just wondering __**how**__exactly that works, considering no one should know what the Amazonian Guardian looks like because it is rumoured that she never left her terra, and because we eliminated all of the other Amazonians._

_I don't believe for a moment that the hallucination I saw was the real Guardian, I have her locked up; it has to be an impersonator, although I'd love to know how they made their act so convincing._

_I'm still stumped as to why anyone would remember who the Guardian is let alone what she looks like. This is quite intriguing indeed._

_Also, it seemed very important to that hallucination that the annoying hooligan lived to see another day. Hopefully if this impersonator is so interested in the Storm Hawks' new friend, she'll stick around them._

_So if the Storm Hawks attack Amazonia, this hallucination should be in tow... the Dark Ace had better not fail me this time._

Shaking off my thoughts, I realized that I had reached my destination.

I unlocked small door that didn't draw any suspicions from Talons, or any unwanted visitors. I definitely didn't need some do-gooder Sky Knight trying to free two of my most prized prisoners, and best kept secret.

Entering, I strode up to the bars that separated the jail cell from the rest of the small, secret room.

"So," I began as I searched the darkness of the cell for the two prisoners. "Have you reconsidered my offer?"

A pair of bright golden eyes suddenly appeared out of the darkness. The eyes belonged to a woman, about average height with black hair that melted into the shadows that were so prominent in this room.

Coming up to the bars and glaring at me she replied, "My answer is the same as it has been for the past 11 years! I have no desire to EVER serve under you or the Cyclonian Empire in general!"

Smiling at the woman before me I replied, "I suspected as much, but did you know you have a one person fan club?"

Enjoying the confused look on her face that she shared with the man with red eyes and blue hair that was supposedly her husband I said, "A few weeks ago, a person who had a striking resemblance to you showed up in my thrown room claiming to be a 'hallucination'. In fact, the resemblance between you and the impersonator was quite uncanny."

The woman's face turned from one of confusion to one that expressed her distrust, and that she believed I wasn't telling the truth.

Looking me in the eye she asked, "How can I have an impersonator who looks _exactly_ like me if people haven't seen me in over ten years? The only people who _may_ remember what I look like would be someone from my tribe, but obviously, that doesn't seem to be an option, does it?"

"No, it doesn't. So I'm wondering, who else would know?" I asked, looking between to two prisoners before me.

The two Amazonians seemed to share a thought at the exact same moment, and it showed on their faces. Their eyes went from denial, to surprise, to worry.

Smiling I asked, "Any ideas?"

For the first time during my 'visit' with these prisoners, the male said flatly, "No."

I looked between the two for a moment before I shrugged my shoulders and headed towards the door. Before I left though, I turned around and said, "Know this then, one day, and one day soon mind you, my question will no longer be a request. It will be an order. Because you see, whether you like it or not, I _will_have the abilities of the Amazonia Guardian at my disposal."

Giving the stunned couple a malicious grin I added, "Whether or not you choose to serve myself and the Cyclonian Empire willingly is still to be seen."

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**Dun dun duh... Master Cyclonis and her evil plans again...**

**I actually don't have much to say about this chapter, except I hope you all know who the 'mysterious' prisoners from the original APAH are now if you hadn't figured it out prior to now...**

**Anyways! Sorry that this chapter is so short in comparison to the length you are all used to from APAH, but I planned out all of the chapters last night, and it looks like this whole story in general will be shorter than expected... Its a total of six chapters plus the prologue and epilogue...**

**Well, I hope you all enjoyed this new chapter and weren't disappointed or anything!**

**Crimson Fox4**

**PS. I'd just like to say to any of my readers who come from the land of the true north strong and free like I do...**

**HAPPY CANADA DAY!! :D**


	3. Request

**Many a thanks goes out to Unleash The Shadow for helping me edit this chapter. (We sure had fun with this one, didn't we? XD)**

**I'm SO sorry to everyone about having to wait forever for this update... ! Did you know its been _2_ weeks since I updated?! Again, I am SO sorry. The point is real life got in the way... between having friends popping up here and there, and spraining my wrist.. lets just say I'm amazed I got this done...**

**Well, enough chatter from me! This story starts in Piper's POV, and guess what? This chapter is n around 4,ooo words long ... :P**

**I do not own the Storm Hawks, they are the property of Nerd Corps.**

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Chapter 2

_Request_

Getting up from my desk with a piece of paper clutched in my hands, I left my lab and headed down the hall towards Aerrow's room.

After a few moments of walking I stood in front of my leader's bedroom, nervously looking around the hall to make sure no one was watching before I stuck the note I had just written onto his door.

As I made my way towards the bridge, I couldn't help but smile knowing that after two years of living on the same ship, none of the other members of our squadron had caught on to how Aerrow and I secretly passed notes to each other.

You'd think that a white piece of paper would stand out against an orange and purple door, but that's the thing - the paper wasn't white!

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I walked onto the bridge to find that it was pretty much empty.

I mean, usually everyone is on the bridge, but this afternoon it was just Aerrow, Stork, and I. Even Radarr was missing in action today and usually he stuck to Aerrow like glue.

Looking up from a book he was reading, Aerrow grinned at me before saying, "Hey Piper! How are you feeling?"

Returning the gesture, I smiled as I replied, "I'm fine, thanks for asking though." An awkward silence instantly hung between us just like it had been for the past month.

_Ever since the incident in the cavern, and the rescue in Cyclonia, things between us have been... different - strained even. These awkward silences just seem to take control after only a few sentences of conversation._

My eyes once more swept the bridge before I asked Aerrow, "Where'd the others get to?"

Aerrow looked at me for a second, and then he swivelled his head around as though he was looking for the rest of our squadron as well. He turned back to face me, shrugged his shoulders and opened his mouth to say something when suddenly Stork popped up in front of me.

"Why aren't you using the crutches I gave you?" Stork nearly screamed before continuing, "And why isn't your leg bandaged up? You could get another infection! And then you could spread it to everyone else on the ship _including_ ME!"

Restraining myself from rolling my eyes I replied, "I'm fine Stork, really! My wound is healed, it doesn't hurt anymore, and it doesn't look infected or anything like that. I'm just fine now. Honest!"

Mumbling about how I must be infected with mindworms, Stork made his way back to the controls of the Condor as I repeated my question, "So where is everyone?"

Aerrow shrugged his shoulders again and said, "I'm actually not that sure Piper, I've been reading this book."

Cocking my eyebrow I asked in mock surprise, "Really?"

Rolling his eyes Aerrow replied, "Is it so rare for me to read a book?"

"Possibly." I said as I flashed Aerrow a grin on my way off of the bridge.

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Aerrow's POV

_Smooth going Aerrow! Piper finally talks to you, and you blow it by saying you're reading a book!_

I mentally kicked myself for not saying something to her that was worthwhile, but how could I tell her anything encouraging when Stork and the others were always around whenever Piper graced us with her presence?

Over the past month while Piper was recovering from her wounded leg, she hadn't come out of her room all that much, and when she did, Stork usually tried to force her to use crutches.

It was quite humorous at times to see Piper and Stork go at it; Piper insisting she didn't need crutches, Stork insisting that she did.

But that wasn't the point, the point was that Piper had been standing right in front of me, and I had managed to say close to nothing to her.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

Sighing, I got up from the chair I was sitting in and began to walk back to my room. You can only try to digest battle tactics for so long, so I suddenly wasn't overly interested in reading my book anymore.

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Piper's POV

A few hours after my run in with Aerrow on the bridge, I found myself lying on the roof of the Condor, staring at the clouds as they slowly drifted by with no cares in the world, a stark contrast to all of the thoughts racing through my mind at one hundred miles per hour.

In just an hour or so, the stars would be out for their nightly appearance, as the sky near the western horizon was already exploding with the many hues of an Atmosian sunset.

_No more midnight flights for me – I've finally figured a few things out._

_Sure, I still have loads of questions swimming in my head and weighing heavily in my heart, but I've finally figured out what to do with myself until the answers reveal themselves. _

Looking away from the western sky, I returned my gaze to overhead and found my mind slowly drifting…

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Flashback

I had been living on the Condor for close to a month, and I still hadn't quite figured out where everything was. I knew how to get to the bridge, the kitchen, the hangar, and to my room, but other than that I wasn't really sure where anything was.

So when Aerrow and I had made up a code yesterday, I wasn't sure how to explain to him that I wouldn't be able to tape a note to his door because I didn't know where his door was...

Instead, I found myself wandering the halls of the Condor today, passing door after door trying to find the one that belonged to Aerrow.

I would have knocked on the doors to see who was in which room, but I decided against it. I really didn't want to run into Aerrow's dad's co-pilot. He really gave me the creeps. Don't ask me why he creeped me out, it just something about him seemed off was all.

As I turned a corner, I ran into something hard and soon my backside had collided with the even harder floor. Looking up, I saw that I had run into the leg of one of the squadron's sharpshooters.

She was as tall as any other adult who lived on the ship, had a slender frame, brown hair, and cheery hazel eyes. Smiling, she extended her hand towards me to help me up.

"Sorry about that Piper! I'm used to watching for Aerrow's red hair coming around the corner, not your lovely blue." Smiling, the brown haired woman helped me up from the spot I had fallen.

"Thanks." I replied as I brushed the dirt off of my clothes.

Once again smiling, the woman's hazel eyes caught sight of my white piece of paper that I had forgotten about when I had fallen to the floor only moments before. Kneeling down and picking it up the woman asked, "Is this yours?"

I nodded before she asked, "Is it something important?"

"Kind of…" I replied as I rubbed my arm absentmindedly.

Flipping the piece of folded paper over in her hands the sharpshooter asked, "Is it a note for Aerrow?"

My eyes widening, I asked, "It is! But – how did you know that?"

Chuckling, she returned the note to me before saying, "Aerrow's mom told me about how you and Aerrow were busy all afternoon making up some sort of code that you wouldn't even let her see."

Smiling sheepishly I replied, "Yeah… Aerrow and I kind of wanted a secret code so that we could have fun passing notes to each other."

Once again smiling, the woman asked, "Are you going to be putting this on Aerrow's door somehow?"

Nodding, I said, "I was planning to, why?"

Getting up from her kneeling position, the woman reached down and grabbed my hand before saying, "Come with me to my room, I think I have something that will help keep your note passing a secret to everyone else on the ship, how's that?"

"Okay!" I replied excitedly as I walked with the sharpshooter to her quarters.

After turning a few corners, the lady who was holding my hand let go of it as we stopped in front of one of the many purple and orange doors on the Condor.

Pressing a button, the door opened as I stood in the doorway looking around the room while the woman with short brown hair sat down at a desk before waving me over.

Scampering over to her side with my note still clutched tightly in my left hand, the woman picked me up and sat me on her lap as she opened up one of the drawers in the bottom right of her desk.

"Close your eyes Piper." She directed as she rummaged around in the drawer for something.

Closing my eyes, I heard something plop down on the desk in front of me. I kept my eyes shut until the lady with the hazel eyes said, "Alright, you can open them Piper."

Opening my eyes, I looked at the desk to see a bundle of postcard sized paper that was tied using a piece of twine. Looking up at my new friend I asked, "But, I already have paper. How is this supposed to make it more secret?"

Smiling, the woman undid the twine before saying, "Look on the back."

Doing what she said, I picked up a piece of paper to see that it was mostly orange with a bit of purple in the bottom left hand corner. Now I was feeling even more confused as to why this paper was so important or secret.

Sensing my obvious confusion, the sharpshooter explained what the pieces of paper were for.

"Since Aerrow's mother and I were the only girls on the Condor until our trip to Amazonia last month where we found you, we used this paper to pass notes to each other, and the guys _still_ haven't caught on yet."

"But what makes them so secret?" I asked, flipping the piece of paper over a few times before comparing it to my plain old white one.

Chuckling, the woman continued with her explanation. "Aerrow's mother and I came up with this idea a few years back. We coloured the backs of the paper with orange and purple that match the doors of the Condor."

Taking the piece of paper from my hand, along with my original note to Aerrow, she opened up the note and began copying the different symbols that Aerrow and I had come up with onto the white side of the secret paper.

Handing me back the original, and the new note that she had just written up, the sharpshooter picked me up off of her lap and put me back on the floor before she got up herself and walked out the door of her room and into the hallway. Before we left, she retied the bundle of paper and brought it with her, along with another bundle from her desk drawer.

Walking through the halls of the Condor once more, we soon stopped in front of one of the many doors on the ship.

Glancing up at the woman beside me, I asked, "Is this Aerrow's door?"

Smiling, she knelt next to me, and as she brushed some of her bangs away from her face she asked, "Can I have the piece of paper that I gave to you Piper?"

Nodding, I handed her the piece of paper.

Glancing at me, the female sharpshooter of the Storm Hawks said, "Watch this!"

I followed her hand with my eyes as I watched her flip the piece of paper around so that the colourful side was facing outwards towards the doorway. Positioning it just so as she stuck it to the door, I realized now why part of it was orange, and why part of it was purple.

The way she had positioned it, the piece of paper blended in with the door. Unless you were _really_ looking for it, you wouldn't notice it as you walked by.

"That is so awesome!" I exclaimed, grinning.

Smiling along with me, the woman handed me the two bundles of paper before saying, "I have to get to training now Piper, but I hope you and Aerrow enjoy writing messages to each other in your secret code! If you ever need more paper, just ask me anytime, okay?"

I nodded as she walked away before I called out to her and said, "You won't tell anyone about our code, right?"

The woman's smile got larger as she crossed her fingers and whispered, "Promise."

Grinning from ear to ear, I looked once more at the note that we had just put on Aerrow's door before I raced off to the bridge to try and find Aerrow to tell him about the secret paper the sharpshooter had just given me.

I felt a twinge of regret though knowing that she had just taken some precious time out of her training to share a secret with me and that I didn't even know her name yet after a whole month of living with her.

* * *

My thoughts coming back to reality, I realized that the sky had grown steadily darker while I was reminiscing about how things used to be on the Condor. Thinking back on it now, I almost preferred the Condor the way it was right now, although I really missed the old Storm Hawks squadron.

I hadn't know the old Storm Hawks for more than a few years, but it was still a sad day when they dropped us off on some terra with one of their friends to look after us while they went off to end the war against the Cyclonians.

They never came back.

_I think that's the only time I've ever seen Aerrow sad…the day when a messenger from the Sky Knight council came with the news about the Storm Hawks – and his parent's funeral of course._

I was quickly drawn away from my thoughts when a piece of orange and purple paper was waved in front of my face.

Grabbing onto the gloved hand that was holding the piece of paper to stop the annoying motion, I looked up and saw that it was Aerrow's arm that was attached to that glove. Looking down at me, Aerrow grinned.

"What?" I asked, perplexed as to why he was giving me such a goofy smile.

Sitting down next to where I was laying on my back and staring at the sky, Aerrow continued to grin as he said, "It's been awhile since we used the code you know."

"I know." I replied as I looked up at him.

Shaking his head in amusement Aerrow said, "It's been so long that I almost forgot the code."

Now it was my turn to shake my head as I said, "No you didn't."

"Fine," Aerrow began, "I didn't forget the code, but still… it's been awhile."

Sighing, I repeated, "I know."

We just stayed there in companionable silence until Aerrow handed over the note to me and said, "I know I'm a little early, but why did you want me to meet you out here after dark?"

I just shrugged and said, "No reason in particular, just a request."

"A request?"

Once again, I just shrugged my shoulders in response to his question.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Aerrow turn and look at the remains of the blazing sunset as the now red sun slowly continued to dip below the horizon.

How long we sat there looking at the sunset, I don't know. I wasn't really feeling like breaking the silence with idle conversation. I wanted to see if Aerrow had read beyond the first sentence of the note; I knew that he had, but still. I was waiting to see his reaction to it.

It didn't take long for the ball of far off fire to dip below the horizon, taking the light with it.

* * *

Aerrow's POV

As the sun sunk below the horizon and the stars slowly began to appear, I couldn't keep ignoring my curiosity as to why Piper wanted me to come up here.

Okay, so maybe I knew why I was up here. Piper had included that in the secret note using the code we made up so many years ago, but still.

I mean, I knew why she wanted me up here, and what she was asking, but I still didn't know _why_ she was asking _what_ she was asking.

Rubbing the back of my neck, I tried to form the question in my head before I asked, "So, why do you want to go to Amazonia Piper?"

I could faintly hear Piper take in a deep breath of the crisp night air before she said simply, "Do I need a reason?"

"Yes, I mean no… I mean, ugh. I don't really know what I mean Piper, but I thought you didn't like going to Amazonia…."

"Right, I _didn't_."

I couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

_Piper may be one of my best friends, but Finn was on to something when he said 'I will never understand girls'. I've been feeling like saying that myself lately..._

"So, why the change of heart?" I asked Piper, partly out of curiosity, and partly out of concern. _What_ I was concerned about, I wasn't sure, but it was still there.

Concern.

_Who am I kidding? It's been there for the past month!_

I saw Piper glance at me before her lips began to move. But any sounds coming out of her mouth were blown away with a sudden gust of wind.

"Pardon?" I said as the wind died down. "I couldn't hear what you said because of the wind."

Nodding, Piper sat up and leaning a bit closer to me she repeated her words that the wind had stolen.

"I said; I have a promise to keep."

_A promise? What promise?_

Leaning back on my hands I asked, "A promise?"

Piper nodded before saying in a sullen voice, "I made a promise to my mom a month ago when we were busy making up a plan to rescue you from Cyclonia."

"Oh." I said before beginning tentatively, "But your mom..." I didn't bother finishing the sentence. Piper would know what I meant.

With a sigh Piper replied, "I know, but if she were around now it would break her heart to see Amazonia under Cyclonian control."

"I guess that makes sense since she was the Guardian of the Amplifying Stone and Amazonia before she passed the Amp Stone on to you."

Piper made a snorting sound before saying, "Some Guardian of Amazonia I've turned out to be. Up until a month ago, I hadn't stepped foot on Amazonia for practically ten years!"

"So?" I asked, regarding her face that was now flaring with anger. "Its not like you could have prevented what happened with the Cyclonians invading your terra, no one could."

Fingering the Amp Stone on her necklace, Piper said, "I guess… but still! I've totally failed at my duties of being the Guardian of Amazonia. Maybe if I hadn't left Amazonia in the first place things would be different now..."

_No kidding things would be different!_

I gingerly placed my hand over hers and waited until she looked me in the eye before I hesitantly spoke my mind.

"Piper, think about what you just said. If I hadn't found you on the night of the Cyclonian attack on your terra, the Talons would have found you and killed you." I let my words sink in as Piper looked away from me before I continued, "Even if they hadn't found you, the outcome wouldn't be much different."

Turning back to look at me like I was crazy, Piper asked, "What do you mean?"

"Face it Piper," I began as I looked into her amber eyes. "Even if you are a native resident of Amazonia, you were five. How long do you think a five year old can last by themselves?"

Piper thought over what I had said for a moment as she hung her head in recognition before saying, "Not very long, that's for sure."

"Even if you had managed to survive on Amazonia by yourself, your shape shifting abilities wouldn't have kicked in until a month ago anyways." I said as I gave Piper's hand a reassuring squeeze as I let go.

She nodded her head at my words, and feeling a small smile form on my lips I told her, "If you had stayed on Amazonia, I would have never met you."

Piper looked up at me before I continued, "If I hadn't met you, who would have helped me rebuild the Storm Hawks? And even if I had managed to rebuild the Storm Hawks squadron alone, we'd still be missing a navigator and tactician. Besides, I'm pretty sure our squadron couldn't survive without you anyways, I thought we already figured that out."

Piper gave a small giggle before saying, "Yeah, I guess that's sort of true, but you guys would still be okay without me."

I shook my head as I whispered softly, "I don't know if _I_ could survive without you..." I felt a bit of heat rush into my cheeks after I realized that I had actually said that out loud.

Looking down at the roof of the Condor, I felt the heat in my cheeks spark when something touched them. Turning to face Piper, I realized that it was her hand on my cheek, and for some reason she was smiling at me.

"Is, is what you just said true Aerrow?" Piper asked shyly as her hand dropped from its place on my cheek to her lap.

I slowly nodded as I said, "Living on the Condor with my parents and the old Storm Hawks was great, don't get me wrong, but before I met you it always felt like something was missing." Glancing at Piper I continued, "You don't get that many chances to make friends when everyone else on the ship is ten or twenty years older than you."

"That's true." Piper giggled.

Rubbing the back of my head I added, "plus, I don't know what I would have done without you when my parents well..." I trailed off, not really wanting to say what had to be one of the worst words in the Atmos.

Piper placed a comforting hand on my shoulder, and as I turned to see her smiling gently at me she said, "Alright, I take it back. I think I like how things have panned out, it's just that I feel I let my parents down somehow by letting Amazonia fall into the hands of Cyclonia. I mean, I _am_the last Amazonian left. I ought to be protecting my terra if the need arises..."

I nodded knowingly before standing up and offering Piper my hand.

As Piper took my hand and I helped her up I said, "Helping others is what the Storm Hawks do best, and I think liberating a terra of Cyclonian rule falls under that statement."

"Really?!" Piper exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.

As I nodded, Piper let out a squeal of joy while she flung her arms around my neck in a loose hug as she cried, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Smiling I replied, "No problem Piper, it's what we do, isn't it?" as I returned the hug.

Feeling something brush against my cheek, Piper let go of me before saying softly, "No, it's what _you_ do, so, thanks." Piper gave me one last smile before walking towards the hatch that led to the rest of the Condor.

_Was it just me, or were her cheeks a little red when she let go…?_

That's when it hit me.

_Piper just, just…kissed me?_

I gently rubbed my cheek that Piper had just kissed while I stared at the starlit sky all around me.

_Well Finn, I think I'm coming around – girls __**are**__ hard to understand._

**

* * *

**********

Uh oh... Finn's philosophy on girls is rubbing off on Aerrow! XD

**Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the longer chapter, althoguh I think the flashback took up half of it...**

**I _may_be able to update this story once more before I leave for camp in a few days, but I kind of doubt it. I'm sorry to those who were expecting me to have this story finished before I headed off for two weeks, but like I said earlier, real life interrupted.**

**Well, I have a surprise for you all the same! I have a poll up in my profile that will help me as far as what happens in chapters 4 and 5! You need to help me choose who gets captured by the Cyclonians! if you are an anonymous reviewer, and can't actually vote in my poll, you can just leave in a review for this chapter whether you want Aerrow, Finn or Junko to get captured.**

**Hurry and vote when you can! (It'll help me be able to plan for future chapters while I'm away...)**

**Sorry again for the long wait!**

**Crimson Fox4**


	4. Strategy

**Hey guys! I'm REALLY REALLY sorry for the REALLY REALLY long wait! SO, that being said, I'd just like to give a quick thanks to Unleash The Shadow for helping me edit this chapter before I let you guys read it :P**

**I do not own the Storm Hawks, they are the property of Nerd Corps.**

* * *

Chapter 3

_Strategy_

The morning after my talk with Piper, I woke up only to look at my clock and realize that it was past the time my alarm would usually go off.

_How did I manage to sleep through my alarm? Well, I guess now is as good a time as ever to get up..._

As I got up and started to get ready for the day, I tried to remember what had happened the night before. I wasn't exactly sure what I was trying to remember, but there was just something in the back of my mind that was nagging me for some reason.

As I threw on my uniform and was about to head out my door, it suddenly hit me.

_Piper kissed me last night!_

My hand involuntarily reached up to my face, and touched the spot on my cheek that Piper's lips had brushed against.

Shaking my head to try and clear my thoughts, I opened the door of my bedroom only to be met with the sound of Finn's whining coming form down the hall.

"I'm so hungry!" I heard Finn's voice come from the kitchen.

With a heavy sigh, I headed towards the kitchen door to try and figure out what was wrong with my wingman this time.

_Seriously Finn, it's too early in the morning for this!_

Walking into the kitchen, I saw Junko, Finn, Radarr, and even Stork sitting around the small table.

_I wonder how Radarr managed to get out of my room without waking me up..._

Looking up from where he was slumped over the table, Finn spotted me in the open doorway before he exclaimed, "Aerrow!" Getting up from his chair just to give me a friendly slap on the back, Finn continued, "Dude! Where have you been?"

"Sorry Finn," I began, "I kind of slept in a bit."

"No kidding!" Finn said exasperated before he began to whine, "You got to sleep in, and all I've gotten to do is stare at an empty plate all morning!"  
"Look Finn, I'm sorry -" I began before he interrupted me.

"It's bad enough that you slept in, but Piper's a no show at the moment, so breakfast is a no go!"

"Piper isn't up yet?" I asked, suddenly curious instead of being a tad annoyed like I usually was when Finn began to complain.

"If she was up, I would have already eaten my breakfast." Finn mumbled as he crossed his arms and began to pout.

I put my hands on Finn's shoulders and spun him around until he was facing the table in the centre of the kitchen. "I'll go get Piper up, but in the meantime I suggest you eat some cereal or something Finn."

I heard Finn and the rest of the guys murmuring and complaining under their breaths, but I ignored it as I walked out of the kitchen and down the hall towards Piper's room.

Once I had reached Piper's room, I knocked on her door a few times, but there was no answer. I waited for a moment or so until I knocked again, but I received the same result.

I pressed the button on the wall to open Piper's bedroom door, and surprisingly her room was left unlocked which was kind of weird, because usually she locks her door before she goes to bed.

I hesitated to go into Piper's room, so I called softly a few times, "Piper? Piiiper!"

Still without a reply, I inched into Piper's room and once my eyes had adjusted to the dim lighting, I saw Piper slumped over her desk with maps, charts, and papers underneath her.

Shaking my head, I walked over to Piper's desk and kneeled down so that I could look her in the face, and I was about to talk to her when I realized that her eyes were closed and that she was snoring ever so lightly.

_What am I ever going to do with you Piper?_

Smiling at the fact Piper had managed to fall asleep at her desk, I placed one of my arms underneath Piper's knees and the other under her shoulders and back before I lifted her up and started to walk towards her bed.

When I was about halfway across the room, Piper stirred in my arms before her eyelids fluttered open, and soon she was staring up at me asking, "Aerrow?"

I laughed awkwardly before replying, "Good morning."

Taking the few steps that were left, I set Piper down on her bed before she asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to wake you up since you sort of slept in like I did." At my comment, Piper began to laugh. I couldn't help but look at her strangely as I asked, "What?"

Stifling her laughter, Piper replied, "Oh, it's nothing Aerrow, I just can't believe _you _slept in!"

Frowning a little, I retorted, "Well, _you_ slept in too!"

"Not purposely!" Piper shot back before she got up from her bed and walked over to her desk. "Besides, as you already know, I didn't _exactly_ sleep in, I sort of fell asleep in the middle of my work last night."

"Obviously." I replied, but Piper just glared at me until I raised my hands in defeat and asked, "What were you working on last night that didn't allow you to get some decent sleep?"

"I was working on a plan to liberate Amazonia; don't you remember what we talked about yesterday?"

"Of course I do!" I answered quickly, but after realizing that I had maybe answered a little _too_ quickly I blushed slightly as I rubbed the back of my neck as I added, "I figured that you would work on the plan in the morning, that's all."

Piper looked me over for a second and asked, "Are you okay Aerrow?"

"I'm fine, why?" I replied as I tried to get a peek at some of the plans she had made.

Shaking her head as she gathered all of her notes and charts, Piper replied, "I don't know, you just seem a little out of it for some reason."

"It's probably just because I'm used to being the first one up and having a bit of time to myself without all of the extra noise, you know?"

Piper smiled gently as she nodded her head before saying, "I get what you mean, except my quiet time is at night when you guys are all snoring like logs!"

"Hey!" I exclaimed at her sudden insult.

Piper stuck out her tongue at me before she dashed through the door with her plans in hand, headed for the bridge.

_Well Finn, I'm guessing that you don't get breakfast today, but I guess neither do I._

* * *

Piper's POV

About an hour after I had woken up, I had finally managed to get everyone on the bridge at one time to run through the plans I had made to free Amazonia of Cyclonian control.

"Why am I here again?" Finn asked as he walked through the bridge doors, followed closely by Junko.

Looking up at them from the table where Aerrow, Radarr, Stork and I were already seated, I quickly gave the unneeded reply, "A mission briefing Finn! And you're late! _Again._"

Finn just shrugged his shoulders as he plopped down into one of the empty seats around the table.

"Now that everyone is here, I guess we can finally begin." I stated as I stood up and walked over to my charts that I had hung up on a near by wall.

"I know it's been about a month, but do any of you remember why we went to Amazonia for a mission?" I asked, pointing to one of my maps of Amazonia.

"You mean the one where all of us almost met our painful demise?" Stork questioned as his eye began to twitch slightly."

"Erm… yes?" I replied, slightly surprised that it was Stork who was the one who answered my question, but really, I guess I shouldn't have been all that surprised.

"Wasn't there some sort of Cyclonian outpost there that you and Aerrow wanted to check out?" Junko asked hesitantly.

"Right, Junko. Before we were just going to do a flyby of the building and try to figure out what was going on, but we never got quite that far for obvious reasons."

"Ya… but what does that have to do with this new 'mission' of ours?" Finn asked offhandedly as he leaned back in his chair.

Frowning at my blonde team mate, I continued, "We're attempting that mission again, that's what."

Finn's eyes bulged out as he lost his balance and he fell off of his chair with a resounding crash. Standing up just after his chair fell over, Finn exclaimed, "Are you crazy! That's where Cyclonis and her cronies caught us all last time! You have to be insane to think that this p-"

Finn's ranting stopped mid-sentence as a result of Aerrow placing his hand over Finn's mouth and saying, "How about you let Piper finish telling us about the plan _before_ you make any objections?"

Finn gave a muffled 'fine' through Aerrow's hand before Aerrow released him, and Finn picked his chair up and sat down again, looking as grumpy as ever.

Shaking my head, I continued with the explanation of the plan as Aerrow took his seat again as well.

"Unlike last time when we didn't know what we would find, we have a better idea this time around." I said before I began to outline the plan in detail.

"When we were battling the Cyclonians and Master Cyclonis, we were on the southern side of the terra, here." I told the rest of my squadron as I pointed to one of my maps before I added, "The Cyclonian out post is here, to the Southwest, and the uncharted terra we landed on, here, is to the Northeast of Amazonia."

Looking away from my maps to see that everyone was still following, I continued, "If we land on the uncharted terra again, we can split up into two groups and each take a different route around the outside of the terra until we meet up on the other side near the outpost, and then we'll return to the Condor and figure out our plan of attack from there."

Aerrow nodded at my explanation, and as he stood up he said, "It's already past ten, so if we leave soon, we'll be back in a couple of hours. So, Piper and I will head to the West, and Finn and Junko will-"

"Actually Aerrow," I began after cutting him off. "If you don't mind, I'd rather that you and Junko head to the West together and I'll take Finn with me to the East."

When I looked at Aerrow to see if he had anything to say, I saw that he had sat back down in his chair, and his expression was hard to read, but it almost looked like what I had said had hurt him for some reason….

Unfortunately, by looking to see what Aerrow had to say about the partners first, I had given Finn a prime opportunity to complain.

"Why aren't we using the usual partners?" Finn whined

"Because Finn, we're going to try something new this time." I answered.

"But… why?" Junko asked.

Sighing, I replied, "Its nothing personal guys, it's just this mission is really important, and I need to split you two up because you guys generally get distracted too easily when you're together."

Looking up from a scratch that they had been investigating on the table during the middle of our argument, Finn and Junko yelled, "DO NOT!"

Rolling my eyes, I replied, "The pairs are final for this mission, we'll see if we have to use them again for our other missions later, okay?"

"I know this is going to be different and everything you guys, but this mission is really important, and I'm just doing what I think we need to do in order to make it a success." I said after Finn and Junko didn't make anymore objections.

_If I tell them its one of the most important things they'll ever help me with, they'll ask why, and I just can't tell them yet about my abilities... and my past._

I took one last look at the sulking figures of Finn and Junko, before I glanced at Aerrow who still seemed slightly crest-fallen about something before I turned around and walked off of the bridge saying, "Meet in the hangar bay for our recon mission in twenty minutes."

* * *

**Alright, sorry again for the wait... the short version of the story was that I went to camp for an unexpected third week, and then between vacation, and being brain dead, this chapter kept getting pushed farther and farther out of my head... I wouldn't blame you guys for being mad at this point... I think its been close to TWO months since I last updated this story... Ooops! XD**

**Anyways, if you ll remember from last chapter, I had a poll up on my profile for you guys to decide who you wanted to be captured in chapter 4... which just so happens to be the next chapter now!! :) The poll is still up, so go ahead and vote if you haven't!!**

**Sorry again for the wait!**

**Crimson Fox4**


	5. Recon Gone Wrong

**Hey everyone! Sorry for the long wait, but at least it wasn't as long as last time, eh? Well, anyways, I'd just like to say a quick thanks to Unleash The Shadow who once again edited for me! There was a small section that was a bit out of whack concerning the time flow, and they found that! Thank you very much for noticing!! :)**

**Well, enough with my silly notes, go on and read!**

**I do not own the Storm Hawks, they are the property of Nerd Corps.**

* * *

Chapter 4

_Recon Gone Wrong_

After Piper had left the bridge, I stood up and headed towards the hangar bay to make sure that my ride was ready for the recon mission that we would be executing in just under twenty minutes.

As I heard the bridge door swish shut behind me, the faint sound of claws scraping against the metal floor of the hallway also met my ears. Looking behind me, I saw that Radarr was following me. Pausing, I stooped down so that he could jump up onto my shoulder before I continued on my way towards the hangar bay, thoughts racing through my mind at a hundred miles an hour.

_Why did Piper want to change the partners up? So what if Finn and Junko mess up a bit sometimes, its just recon, what could go wrong?_

_There has to be more to it than Piper just wanting to make sure her plan goes right... but what? I mean, she wouldn't willingly pair herself with Finn... would she?_

I sighed as I walked through the doors to the hangar bay. Making my way across the almost cavernous room, I sat down on my skimmer before my thoughts flooded my mind once more.

_Maybe she's trying to avoid me because of what happened last night on the roof. I know it was just on the cheek, but did Piper's kiss have any meaning behind it, or was it just a friendly thing? I mean, she hasn't done that since we were kids, why start again now?_

_UGH! Why do girls have to be so confusing!_

I threw my hands up into the air in an act of desperation, and crossed my arms over the handlebars of my skimmer so that I could rest my head on them.

_I... I don't know what to think about Piper anymore. I mean, we're best friends, practically adopted siblings or something since we've known each other for so long, but... I still don't know._

_She's one of the most amazing girls I've ever met, but I don't know if that's saying much as I haven't met all that many girls with me being in the sky all of the time._

_She has a unique talent with crystals; one that I bet will give Master Cyclonis a run for her money one day. And she does know how to make a killer plan to keep us all safe on a mission._

I shook my head to try and clear my thoughts.

_Should I really be thinking about Piper like this?_

But even my best intentions couldn't keep the nagging thoughts and questions at bay.

_She's a great friend, but lately I've been catching myself just staring at her... it might be her unique midnight blue hair, but then again, it could always be her bright intelligent eyes that shine like the sun... gah!_

_Will I ever get my thoughts in order? I mean, Piper's my __**friend**__ I shouldn't even be thinking about her like this, should I?_

_What if I do get my thoughts in order someday and I figure out that I __**do**__ like Piper? I mean, look at the damage that that crystal in the cave behind the waterfall did... Piper hardly spoke to me for a month!_

I couldn't help the exasperated sigh that left my lips.

_I think I'm going to go crazy one of these days..._

"Dude, what's wrong with you?" My head snapped up, and I swivelled it around to see my blond wingman looking down at where I was still sitting on my skimmer.

_I didn't even hear him come in!_

"Nothing, just kind of tired." I responded, hoping that Finn wouldn't ask me anymore questions.

"You're kidding, right?" Finn asked frowning, "You slept in today! You should _not _be tired dude!"

_Then what's wrong with me Finn?_

I shrugged my shoulders as Finn sat down on his skimmer that was next to mine.

There was a few moments of silence before I asked Finn, "So, what do you think of the new partners?"

Finn's face immediately soured as he said, "I really don't see the point of them. Sure, _sometimes_Junko and I don't follow the plan, but what can go wrong today? We're just running recon, what's the big deal anyways?"

"I guess that means you don't like the new partners then?" I asked with a slight chuckle hinting at my voice.

"Well, no! It would have been fine if she had paired me with you. Piper's _way_ too serious, but mind you, you've been kind of serious lately too."

I was about to ask Finn what he had meant by that when Junko walked into the hangar bay.

Finn forgot all about his conversation with me as he called out, "Hey, Junko buddy!"

_I guess that's the end of that._

Junko waved, and walked over to Finn before they began another one of their near pointless conversations about who was the best player on the Nimbus Nimrods team.

Resting my head on my crossed arms once again, I felt someone tap my shoulder. Looking up, I saw that Radarr was leaning over from his sidecar.

"Hey Radarr," I mumbled as I looked up at him with a weak smile on my face.

Radarr's eyes regarded me with a hint of worry as if to say, 'What's wrong? You okay?'

"I'll tell you as soon as I figure it out for myself Radarr." I whispered to my furry co-pilot. I tried to give Radarr a reassuring smile, but he always seemed to know when I was upset or troubled.

As I heard the door that led t the hangar bay open behind me, Radarr gave me one more confused look before he settled himself back into his seat, ready for the recon mission.

Turning around, I saw that it was Piper who had walked into the hangar, except she wasn't Piper anymore; she looked like the Amazonian Guardian again. I could tell that she hadn't used a chroma crystal either, because she looked exactly like she had when she and the guys had come and rescued me in Cyclonia.

_Why in the Atmos is she using her shape shifting abilities for a simple recon mission where she could just use a chroma crystal and get basically the same result?_

Like Piper, I have to use a disguise whenever I leave the Condor now, but thanks to the Dark Ace thinking he had killed me, I didn't have a choice as to whether I used my disguise or not.

Ever since I broke Piper out of the Cyclonian cell a month or so ago, I've been known to the Cyclonian Empire as 'the renegade'. Since I was using a disguise then, I guess I'm stuck with brown hair hidden by a green toque, and hazel coloured eyes.

I'd really prefer to just ditch the whole disguise thing, but I guess I don't really have a choice.

As far as I know, Piper disguising herself as the Amazonian Guardian is an optional thing for her, but it seems that she hasn't wanted to be herself whenever she needs to leave the Condor now for some reason

I really don't know why, but maybe since we're on friendly terms again, _maybe_ she'll actually talk to me again now.

As Piper walked over to her heliscooter which was parked next to my skimmer, she tossed a crystal to me. Catching it, I saw that it was a chroma crystal, or at least – it looked like one.

"What's this for? I asked Piper as she straddled her heliscooter.

"It's just in case something goes wrong with the crystals in your shoes." Piper replied a little too casually for my liking.

Eyeing Piper suspiciously, I pocketed the crystal before I leaned over to Piper and whispered, "Where's _your_ chroma crystal?"

Piper didn't look up from the gauges she was checking as she replied, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yes you do Piper!" I hissed.

Piper turned around and stared at me coldly before she hissed back, "I don't need a chroma crystal now, _remember?_"

_I don't think I'll ever be able to forget that..._

"Piper, I know that, but the rest of the guys don't know why! For all they know, you're still using an 'advanced chroma crystal'."

When Piper didn't answer, I asked in a hushed, urgent tone, "When are you going to tell the others? They deserve to know…" I trailed off as I saw the anger begin to surface in the golden colour of Piper's eyes that had replaced the usual rusty orange colour.

"I'll tell them when I'm good and ready!" Piper began, and as she continued, her eyes narrowed, and the volume of her voice rose. "So mind your own business for once!"

Seeing the flabbergasted expression on my face, I saw a hint of regret flash through Piper's eyes before her anger hardened them once more.

Looking ahead as the main hangar bay doors opened, Piper called to Finn, "Follow me." before she sped off down the runway and into the sky, black storm clouds gathering in the distance.

Finn glanced at me with a look on his face that screamed, 'What did you do?' before he followed Piper's example and shot into the sky as his skimmer transformed into flight mode.

Watching as Piper and Finn flew off towards the Eastern side of the jungle filled terra below, I nodded to Junko and soon we were both in the sky headed in the opposite direction as out squadmates.

* * *

Piper's POV

As I flew through the air, I looked through my binoculars to scope out any new defences the Cyclonians may have added since our last visit to Amazonia. While doing so, I heard Finn pull up next me on his skimmer.

He was quiet for a few minutes before he asked, "Dude, what's wrong?"

Without taking the binoculars away from my eyes, I replied, "Why do you think that something is wrong with me Finn?"

"I don't know… it's just that you pretty much _never_yell at Aerrow without a good reason…"

Sighing, I lowered the binoculars away from my eyes to see Finn looking at me with worry in his own eyes.

_Wait a second, since when does Finn worry about anyone besides himself?_

"Sorry Finn, I just – I'm just really tired today." I mumbled in reply to Finn's strange question.

Finn just rolled his eyes in response.

"What?" I questioned, curious as to why Finn was rolling his eyes at me.

"Nothing, except that's the same lame excuse that Aerrow gave me earlier when I asked him the same question."

"Lame excuse, huh? How so?"

"You both got to sleep in this morning, so why should you be tired?"

"I don't know…" I replied, not sure where Finn was going with this.

"Exactly! And when I told Aerrow that, he didn't really say anything, he just changed subjects on me. He hardly ever does that!"

"I guess…" I said, trailing off before adding, "But why are you asking Aerrow and I if we're okay anyways?"

I don't know," Finn began as he shrugged his shoulders. "Aerrow just looked down and out for some reason, and then you yelled at him to mind his own business or something."

I looked down at the binoculars in my lap in hopes to avoid Finn's gaze.

_Why was I so harsh to Aerrow earlier? I should have just listened to him in the first place... me keeping my abilities a secret is just tearing us all apart... especially my friendship with Aerrow._

"What's going on with you guys? You haven't been acting the same way around each other since we rescued him from Cyclonia."

"I never took you for the observant type Finn. I told him as I looked up and gave him a grin to let him know that I was only teasing him.

"Well," Finn began, finally starting to sound like his usual self again, "I like to consider myself a Finn of all trades at times, but, well-"

Finn paused to look up at me before he said, "I know it's hard to believe, but I do really care about you, about Aerrow, about Junko, about our whole squadron, you know? And thanks to whatever is happening between you and Aerrow, things on the Condor don't feel… right."

I nodded solemnly before Finn added, "But don't you tell anyone I said any of this stuff to you, I have a reputation to uphold you know!"

I couldn't help but giggle before saying, "I promise Finn."

"Good, and if anyone asks, just tell them that I annoyed you so much you wanted to strangle me, okay?

_There's the Finn I know!_

* * *

Aerrow's POV

_Wow! You really did it this time Aerrow! First you got Piper mad at you, and then Finn looked at you like you're crazy – I guess that isn't all that new – and now Junko won't talk to you either!_

I sighed at how confusing my life had managed to become in the short time of a single day.

_And since when do I refer to myself in the third person?_

_I really __**must**__ be going crazy..._

I quickly swept the terra's edge and interior with my eyes once more for any signs of Cyclonians before I asked Junko, "Do you see anything out of the ordinary?"

"Oh, not really," Junko began, "Just trees and dirt... and your long face…"

I glanced over at Junko only to see his ears lying down against his head, his eyes regarding me with worry.

"Junko…" I began, not really sure what to say to my team mate.

_I can't talk to Finn and Junko about my life anymore because I'm always dealing with something to do with Piper and her abilities._

_It'll be so much better once Piper tells the rest of the squad..._

"It's okay Aerrow," Junko said, pausing.

"It is?" I asked, looking over at my kindly Wallop friend.

Nodding, Junko continued, "Finn told me that you were tired, so I guess that sort of explains things..."

"Maybe…" I mumbled just loud enough for Junko to hear, but there was so much more I could have added, yet I _couldn't._

I looked over at Junko and gave him an encouraging smile before saying, "Don't worry Junko, I'll feel better soon."

_That is if Piper tells the guys soon…_

After seeing that Junko had brightened a bit at my words, I saw Radarr staring at me with a look that said, 'You can tell me what's wrong – I know you fibbed to Junko.'

"I told you Radarr, I'll tell you once I figure it out for myself." I whispered to my co-pilot who was now staring straight ahead.

"Oh come on Radarr!" I began at first, thinking he was giving me the silent treatment, but when I looked closer, I saw that he was sitting rigidly in his seat, looking forward with a snarl on his face.

As I followed my friend's gaze, I began to ask, "Radarr, what are you-" I stopped mid-sentence as I saw what was before us.

Not sure what to think, say, or let alone _do_ in a situation that I now found myself in, all I could manage to mumble was, "Oh."

An attack from all sides soon commenced, and there was little Junko, Radarr and I could do, except hope that someone would come and rescue us.

_Piper, where are you?_

* * *

Piper's POV

Finn and I were about halfway done with our part of the recon mission when he asked, "Piper, why is your crystal glowing? It, like, _never_ does that."

Looking down at my necklace, I saw that it was indeed glowing, and rather vibrantly at that. I knew that Finn and I weren't in trouble, so it could only mean….

"Aerrow!" I yelled as I turned my heliscooter to start flying across the terra.

"What?" Finn called out from behind me. "Where are you going Piper?!"

"Aerrow, Radarr, and Junko are in trouble!"

"But how do you know?"

_Because my Amplifying Stone knows when my friends are in trouble... I'm so stupid! Of course I can't tell Finn that!_

Thinking for a moment, I called back to Finn, "I can't reach them through my communicator, how about you try yours in case mine is broken?"

"Um, sure…" Finn said, looking at me like I had grown another head.

"Just do it Finn!" I called to him as I continued to fly towards where Aerrow and the others should be.

* * *

Finn's POV

_Wow… I don't think anything is normal today..._

_First Piper and Aerrow sleep in, then they yell at each other, and now Piper thinks Junko, Radarr and Aerrow are in trouble! What's with that?_

_Besides, I haven't seen Piper use her communicator at all during this mission._

"Finn!" I heard Piper call angrily from in front of me where she was still flying towards the other side of the terra.

"Alright, alright!" I mumbled as I pressed a button on my skimmer before saying, "Sharpshooter to Renegade, come in Renegade!"

The only reply to my message was static. I tried calling Aerrow a few more times, but the same thing happened.

Trying something new, I spoke into the speaker, "Sharpshooter to Wallop, are you there?"

More silence.

"Junko! You there?" I called into the radio, but only more static followed.

"Believe me know?" Piper yelled back to me.

"Um, yeah?" I replied, hoping it was the right answer.

"Good!" Piper called out before adding, "Come on, something's wrong! We have to find them!"

"No arguments here!" I yelled back before we both sped our rides up to max speed.

_Wow... I'm actually listening to Piper for once... this day just keeps getting weirder and weirder!_

**

* * *

**********

Hmmm**... I wonder if Finn will ever figure it out... shrugs We'll have to wait and see, non? OH! and if anyone was wondering, I forgot to mention that the story started in Aerrow's POV, although I'm sure you smart cookies had that all figured out after a couple of paragraphs!**

**Now, I think I may have told a few of you that I was planning to have a poll accompany this chapter, but it turns out I don't need it anymore...**

**My dilemma before was that I had two possible ways for Piper and Finn to find out about what happened to the others and I was going to let you guys vote on the two choices, but it turns out that after fixing up a section of this chapter, the story chose for itself! So, sorry to anyone who was itching for a poll! I'll think up something for you guys... don't worry...**

**Crimson Fox4**


	6. A Message in the Bushes

**Hey everyone! I'm alive if you believe it or not, I'm still not quite sure if _I_ believe it yet, but ah well!**

**I'd just like to thank Unleash The Shadow for taking time out of their busy life to edit this chapter for me! Give them a round of applause if you please! :)**

**Well, this chapter is a bit longer than the others so far in this story, and let me tell you, this chapter is leading up to some pretty intense stuff in chapters six and seven... how do I know this when I hardly ever seem to plan ahead? Well, I'll tell you later, as you can go ahead and read the chapter now if you want...**

**I do not own the Storm Hawks, they are the property of Nerd Crops.**

* * *

Chapter 5

_A Message in the Bushes_

"Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay!" I kept mumbling to myself as Finn and I began to search along the edge of Amazonia where our friends _should've_ been. The problem that I had was that they _weren't_.

"Where are they?" Finn called over to me from his skimmer which was flying to the right of me; where he had a good view of the wastelands and the edge of the terra, whereas I was flying on his left, above the terra, scanning the interior and jungle of Amazonia's edge.

"I don't know Finn, but they've got to be here somewhere!" Finn just looked at me with worry and doubt beginning to grow in his eyes, causing me to tell him, "Just keep looking!"

Once Finn had turned his head away from me to continue with his search, I glanced down at the Amp Stone around my neck to see that it was beginning to grow brighter than it had when Finn first pointed it out to me.

_Either we're getting closer, or they're in more trouble than I thought!_

_Please be okay, please be okay! They've got to be okay!_

"Anything?" I questioned Finn hopefully.

Finn began to shake his head no, but then he stopped and I noticed that he was squinting at something in the distance. Without a single word of explanation of what he saw, or what he was doing, he zoomed off to investigate whatever it was that he had found.

"Finn, come back!" I yelled to him as I tried to catch up.

With my heliscooter being slower than his skimmer, by the time I had reached Finn, he had already landed on the terra, and had gotten off of his ride. As I landed near where Finn's ride was parked, I saw what he had seen from far off.

"Their skimmers.…" I whispered as I got off my heliscooter and began to walk over to where Finn was standing.

Turning to look at me, Finn asked, "If their skimmers are here… where are they?"

"I… I don't know Finn." I stuttered before continuing, "Stopping and landing on the ground to explore something definitely wasn't part the recon mission I planned."

"Do any of your plans ever go right?" Finn joked.

I just glared at my blond headed squad-mate before I retorted, "Not with you around, they don't!"

As he narrowed his eyes, Finn was about to say some snappy comeback until I held my hand in front of his face and told him, "Arguing isn't going to help us find the others, you know."

The anger on Finn's face slowly dissipated as he mumbled, "I know, it's just, _where_ are they?"

I turned away from Finn and instead stared ahead at the skimmers while I fingered the Amp Stone that hung around my neck. I could feel the slight heat it had been giving off earlier slowly fade away.

Before I could look down at the blue coloured crystal, Finn said, "Hey, your crystal died out."

Glancing down, I saw that it had indeed stopped glowing. "I guess it did…" I trailed of before a new stream of thought shot off inside my brain.

_But is that good or bad! Does it mean that Aerrow, Junko and Radarr are out of distance of the stone, or that they're perfectly safe, or... or – UGH! I really wish I knew more about this Amplifying Stone..._

While I was thinking, I hadn't noticed that Finn had pulled out his crossbow.

"Finn, what are you doing?" I asked him.

"Finn put a finger to his lips as he signalled to me to be quiet before he pointed a finger towards the bushes behind the skimmers.

Crouching next to Finn I whispered, "What's wrong?"

"I heard something in those bushes over there." Finn replied, probably being the quietest I had ever heard him be since I met him a few years ago when Aerrow began to reform the Storm Hawks.

"What do you think it is?" I questioned him.

"Don't know." He answered.

"I'll check it out then." I said as I quickly moved away from Finn.

"Wait -" I heard Finn whisper hoarsely, but I was already gone, there was no way he could stop me without yelling.

As I moved slowly around the edge of the small clearing, I glanced down at the Amp Stone periodically to see that its charge was slowly growing, and with that, the glow of the stone increased as well.

Ducking behind a large tree that was part way between where Finn was, and where the bushes behind the skimmers were, I took a deep breath and tried to figure out how to proceed now that I was getting closer to the bush and still couldn't see anything.

_I could just go back to Finn and said that I didn't see anything, and we could forget all about it, but then again, if it really is nothing, why is the Amp Stone glowing?_

_Okay, so I'll make my way around to the other side where the skimmers are, but what will I do once I get there? What if I find something I don't want to find?_

Trying to ignore my thoughts, I glanced out from behind the tree, I saw that the cover the rest of the way was pretty sparse, mainly just short shrubs and a bit of grass and dirt.

_Okay, so there's no way __**I**__ could get past that part unseen, but if I was something smaller..._

Looking down at the Amp Stone, I saw that the glow about it had become fairly steady during the time I was thinking.

_Will it work?_

Ducking down behind the tree, I focused, and felt the surge of energy from the Amp Stone running through my body. Closing my eyes, I continued to focus until I felt the energy weaken.

Opening my eyes, I saw that what was before me was almost a whole new world. The bushes and grasses that had been so short moments before seemed to be so high now that I was no longer tall, but I had shifted into a small animal, a mouse to be more exact.

_I'll have no problem sneaking up on whatever is behind those bushes now!_

I quickly ran through the grass and shrubs that seemed so much bigger now, until I saw the tire of Junko's skimmer out of the corner of my eye. Knowing that I was close, I stood up on my back legs, and began to sniff around. I figured that if I was a mouse, I may as well try and act like one.

_A normal mouse wouldn't have a crystal around their neck though..._

Locating the bushes once more, I continued on my journey through the undergrowth.

Within a few minutes, I was peeking around another large tree to see someone's shoes poking out of the bushes in front of me.

_This should be fun._

Hiding behind the tree, I let go of some of my concentration, and with the usual whirling blue clouds, and a flash of light, I had returned to my normal form, except I was still disguising myself as how I remembered my mom to look like.

I slowly and quietly reached down to my waist to unclip my staff from my belt. Waiting a few moments to make sure that whoever was in that bush hadn't realized I was here yet, I took a deep breath as I stepped out from behind the tree before I activated my staff.

"Whoever you are, come on out." I said loudly as I pointed my staff towards the bush.

With a bit of rustling of leaves, the feet that had been sticking out soon disappeared, and there was still no reply.

"No use in trying to hide yourself now. Come on out peacefully, and I won't feel the need to harm you." I stated, as I cautiously moved closer towards the bush.

There were a few moments of silence before the sound of rustling leaves came again, and a man wearing the uniform of a Cyclonian Talon emerged form the bush sheepishly saying, "You really won't hurt me, or try to kill me?"

I narrowed my eyes at the Talon before me as I said, "I don't kill people."

The Talon seemed kind of shocked and so was I when he asked, "Why? Aren't you afraid people will kill you?"

I thought for a moment before I answered saying, "I'm going to die one day, either by the hand of another person, or because of old age. I made a promise to myself awhile ago that I wasn't going to kill anyone, I _am _the Guardian of Amazonia after all."

"You, you're – you're _the _Amazonian Guardian?" The Talon asked in surprise.

I managed to control my smirk as I motioned for the Talon to move forward into the clearing by the skimmers. By the time we were out in the open, Finn was walking over to us, suspicion in his eyes.

"Now what do we have here?" Finn taunted the Talon as he finally reached where we stood a few feet away from our missing team-mates' skimmers.

The Talon just ignored Finn before he turned towards me again and exclaimed, "I remember you now! You were here in around a month ago with that renegade that we just captured again!"

I started at what the Talon had said before I looked at Finn to see the suspicion in his eyes fade away to worry. Turning towards the Talon I stuttered, "You… you captured him?"

"Yep!" The Talon said too enthusiastically for my liking. "It would be the second time now that we've captured that renegade."

"Wonderful." I muttered under my breath.

Glaring at the Cyclonian before him, Finn looked like he was ready to strangle him, so I stuck my hand out towards Finn, palm facing him as a not so subtle sign for him to calm down. Turning towards the Talon I asked, "How did you manage to catch him? I mean, I heard it was a fluke last time."

The Talon narrowed his eyes before replying with a hiss, "It was _not_ a fluke! I shot that punk myself! And as for this time, I was among the ranks of Talons that _the_ Dark Ace selected for this mission."

_The Dark Ace! What is he doing on Amazonia?! I suppose that doesn't matter at the moment, for now, I need to figure out where they took Aerrow and the others!_

"What mission?" Finn asked before I had a chance to question the Talon myself.

Seeing that the Talon was analyzing his surroundings, I pointed my staff at him again saying, "Don't even think about it. I may not kill people, but I sure don't let anyone with information about prisoners escape either."

The Talon gave me a defeated look before he said, "You're not going to let me go, are you?"

"I was trying to answer that my question myself," I began before adding, "It all depends if you co-operate or not."

I could see the Talon visibly gulp before he nodded his head. I motioned for him to sit down, and he readily complied, sitting down with his legs crossed, and his head in his hands.

He shook his head before he said, "All I was supposed to do was plant a dumb message crystal for you to find, and now I'm a prisoner!"

Finn and I exchanged looks before Finn knelt down next to our 'prisoner' and asked him, "Say, where is that message crystal you were supposed to give us?"

The Talon didn't do anything for a few moments, and I was afraid he wasn't going to give us the crystal until he produced the purplish coloured crystal from his pocket. Finn quickly took the crystal and put it into his own pocket before he asked, "So you guys managed to capture the renegade again, but what about my other squad-mates that were with him?"

Smirking slightly, the Talon told Finn, "Oh, we captured them as well, but I wouldn't worry about them too much, I'd worry about that renegade friend of yours." Pausing to gauge Finn's reaction, the Talon turned to me and whispered, "I think it's just fair to let you know, the Dark Ace wants to capture you for the Master, I wouldn't be surprised if that's what the message crystal is about."

"You mean you didn't listen to the message yet?" Finn questioned the talon, shocked.

"Well, no. The Dark Ace would probably kill me if I did."

Finn shrugged his shoulders before he said, "I would have listened to it anyways."

I rolled my eyes before I looked down at the Talon that was still sitting on the ground before I asked, "Where are they?"

"Who?" He replied.

"You know who!"

"Oh... your little friends? Where do _you_ think they are?"

I just glared at the Talon before I pointed my staff towards the woods in the direction of the Cyclonian outpost as a double message before I snarled, "Leave."

"What are you-" Finn began to protest, but I shot him a look that silenced his pretoests before I turned towards the Talon and repeated myself saying, "LEAVE!"

The Talon scrambled to get up, and was soon running through the forest, making quite a racket.

As the noise died away, I walked towards my heliscooter and flipped on the radio transmitter. "This is Recon Team One calling Condor, do you read?"

"Loud and clear, this is the Condor." I heard Stork's voice come through the speakers imbedded into the dashboard of my ride.

I quickly glanced at a fuming Finn behind me before I purposefully looked away and continued my conversation with Stork. "Condor, would you mind coming to our current co-ordinates? We need you to come and pick something up."

"Pick something up?" Stork asked with question in his voice, I could imagine that by now his eye was twitching from what I just said.

"Yeah, we need you to come and pick up Recon Team Two's rides."

"Why would I need to do that?"

Sighing, I said, "I- I'll explain once you get here, just hurry. Recon One out."

Turning off the transmitter, I turned around to come face to face with a still fuming Finn who wasted no time in yelling at me, "Why'd you let him get away!"

I cringed at how angry Finn was. I've seen him mad before, but this was a little extreme.

"It was just a Talon..." I mumbled as I turned away from Finn, only to have him grip my shoulder and turn me around so that I was facing him again. Finn continued to glare at me, so I repeated myself louder saying, "It was just a Talon Finn! What did you want me to do?"

Finn let go of me before he crossed his arms and began to pout before he said, "You could've at least asked me about it before you sent him on his jolly way."

"Finn, listen-" I began before Finn cut me off, yelling again.

"NO!" Finn roared as he jabbed one of his fingers at me, causing me to stumble backwards a bit. "Why don't _you_ listen for once?" Finn began again, his jabbing turning into full out shoving if he wanted to accentuate his point.

"You're always bossing me around Piper! You never listen to what I have to say! You always think my ideas are dumb and useless! Well, I've got news for you! _I_ was the one this morning that told you this plan wouldn't work! _I _was the one who tried to remind you that we all got captured here last time we tried anything like this!"

With each poke, prod, or shove, I was backing up more and more towards where Aerrow's skimmer was until I felt my legs bang against it. With nowhere left to back away from Finn, I looked up to see him standing only a couple feet away from me, looking as mad as ever for one reason or another.

_Have I really been that mean and rude to Finn? He's always teasing and bothering me, so I've always teased him back, has it really had an effect on him? Did he really not shrug everything off like it always looked like he did?_

As Finn advanced on me, he prodded my shoulder with his finger, and slowly adding pressure to it, his face was so close to mine that I could smell his breath before he said, "And you know what else? It's _your _fault that they got captured, all because of _your_ stupid plan! What do you have to say about that?" Finn asked as he poked my shoulder again, this time with slightly more force.

"Finn! Please stop!" I told him as I tried to get further away from him only to fall over Aerrow's skimmer and land on the ground with a loud thud.

Finn stepped around the skimmer and squatted down next to me before he asked, "Stop what?"

I scuttled away from him, my back aching. Seeing that I had begun moving away from him, Finn stood up, now towering over where I was sitting on the ground. He took a step towards me before he repeated his question, "What did you want me to stop doing?"

Finally finding a bit of strength, I managed to get up from where I was sprawled in the dirt, and kneel with my head bent towards the ground, all the while trying to catch my breath that had been knocked out of me when I had fallen.

As I heard Finn's advancing footsteps, what he had said kept running through my mind over and over again.

'_It's your fault they got captured, all because of your stupid plan!'_

_It's my fault... it's __**my**__ fault!_

* * *

Finn's POV

Once I was a few feet away from where Piper was kneeling on the ground, I was about to ask her again what I was supposed to stop doing when she stopped looking at the ground, and looked up at me.

For as long as I've known Piper, I've never really seen any obvious weakness in her, that may be why I was yelling at her now, I knew she'd just be yelling back at me too, that she could take it like any of the other guys in our squadron could, but when she looked up at me, the anger inside of me just... _disappeared._

Piper was – Piper was….

Piper was crying!

I opened my mouth to speak to her, but nothing came out, I was too shocked.

_Is, is she crying because of me? Because of what I've been saying to her? I – I sure hope not..._

Slowly standing, Piper looked at me for a moment, before she whispered, "I- I'm sorry, I'm sorry about everything, and - and I wanted to let you know... you were right."

As Piper turned her head to the side and shut her eyes, the only response I could find was, "Wha – _what?_"

Her head now facing forward again with her eyes turned to the ground and her shoulders slumped, Piper said, "You were right Finn, it _is _all _my _fault that the others got captured, I'm sorry."

Before I could stop her, tell her that I had been wrong to yell at her, Piper had turned around, and was racing towards the jungle the same way the Talon had gone. Pausing at the edge of the clearing, Piper called out to me, "Take the message crystal and listen to it with Stork... You guys can probably make a better plan than I ever could. I'm going to go and find the others. It's my fault they're gone, so I'm going to get them back!"

"Piper, wait!" I called out, but it was too late. She had disappeared into the jungle.

Now_ I _was the one with my shoulders slumped as I walked towards my skimmer and sat down. I crossed my arms over the dashboard, and I rested my head on them, much like the same thing Aerrow had been doing a few hours ago.

I stayed in that position for what felt like hours until the Condor showed up, and all the while I was thinking the same thing over and over again.

_What have you done now Finn? Piper's going to kill herself trying to break into that outpost. _

Looking up to see the Condor approaching, another thought came to mind.

_What have I done!_

But more important than that thought was this;

_What am I going to do to make it right?_

* * *

Piper's POV

I could feel my tears trailing down my face as I ran through the jungle towards the Cyclonain outpost.

_They weren't captured long ago, so I don't think they've been transported off the terra yet. If the Dark Ace left us a message crystal, you'd think that means he was planning to keep them here for awhile... or maybe it was to lure us to Cyclonia..._

Pausing for a moment to gain my bearings again, I tried to ignore my thoughts, but it was near impossible.

_I mean, the Dark Ace wouldn't kill the others until he got the okay from Master Cyclonis... would he?_

When I had finally convinced myself that the others would be fine, I took a step forward to prepare to run again when with that step, my Amp Stone began to glow vibrantly.

_The only time it's shone this brightly before was when the Cyclonians captured Aerrow the first time... _

Soon a light came on in my head, and I slowly realized what my Amp Stone trying to warn me about.

As I began to run in the direction of the outpost again, I took the glow of the Amp Stone to my advantage and shifted into a Black Amazonian Panther on the run. Now sprinting at double the speed as before, I mumbled, "I'm coming guys, just hold on!"

* * *

Aerrow's POV.

I moaned as I woke up from a dream, yet it hadn't been a dream, it had been a nightmare. But as my eyes adjusted to the darkness around me, I realized it hadn't just been any nightmare, it had been reality.

_--_

_Flashback_

_Radarr was ignoring me, staring straight ahead at what I thought was nothing, but as soon as I finally turned to see what he was looking at, it was too late._

_An attack on Radarr, Junko and I commenced from all sides, leaving us little to no time to prepare to defend ourselves, let alone conjure up an offensive plan._

_It wasn't long before the attackers who had turned out to be Talons had somehow managed to find a way to push Junko, Radarr and I into the centre of the circle they had created. And these weren't your usual 'elite' Talons either, these ones were actually almost living up to their title._

_I heard a sinister laugh erupt from outside of the circle before the Talons in front of us stopped firing, and a small pathway was cleared for another skimmer to come through and join the attack; the pilot of the skimmer being none other than the Dark Ace._

_Glaring at the black haired man advancing on us, I began to frown as he started to speak._

"_Well, it looks like I've captured a couple of Storm Hawks today!" Pretending to squint before he continued to rant, the Dark Ace began mockingly, "And I've captured myself a renegade as well..." the Dark Ace trailed off before he narrowed his eyes and said, "I guess you must have found yourself a spot on the team after you saved their little friend."_

_I just continued to glare in response as the Dark Ace began to laugh once more._

_After the Dark Ace had finished confronting us in the air, and gloating about his 'well trained Talons', he forced Junko and I to land our skimmers on Amazonia. _

_The Dark Ace had laughed in our faces saying, "Won't this make a lovely trap for the rest of the Storm Hawks and that little 'hallucination' that you seem to be buddies with?"_

_Seeing our eyes widen with concern for our friends only caused the Dark Ace to laugh more before he hit us with a blast from a crystal that he had produced form his pocket._

_--_

The only light that was filtering into the dark room I was sitting in was coming through a door... with bars... and a lone figure stood on the other side of the door, blocking some of the precious light.

Seeing that I was awake, I could hear the figure's laughter echo throughout my prison cell before it whispered, "The Master has ordered me to kill all of the Storm Hawks except for that girl you rescued a month back."

"Piper..." I whispered under my breath, a sinking feeling in my heart as I realized who I was talking to.

"Ah yes, that would be her name," the sinister man before me smirked, his blood red eyes seeming to glow in the low light. Leaning against the bars he whispered, "But don't worry, I'm keeping you and the others alive for bait. But after that, well..." The man trailed off as he stroked the blades of his sword. "I'll need to fulfill the rest of my orders."

His laughter followed him down the hall as he left me alone to my thoughts.

**

* * *

**

So... what do you guys think? I hope the long wait was worth it... but that leads me to what I was saying at the top of this chapter! I already have chapter 6 written out, and about a paragraph of chapter 7, so hopefully updates will be able to go back to their usual update of one chapter every week or so, but that is still to be seen as I still need to work some bugs out for chapter 6...

**Well, that's about all I have to say, but I was hoping for everyone's feedback on something I'm thinking of doing.**

**Most of you know what Cookie Challenges are, right? What if I were to tell you that I was thinking of taking that idea and stepping it up a notch in the form of a forum here on the site?**

**Basically with the help of Unleash the Shadow and SakariWolf, I'd aim to have a new challenge every week. What sort of challenges you may ask? About anything!**

**It could be that we give you a paragraph to start a story with, and you finish it how you want, or we give you ten random words that have to be included in a story/ drabble, or we just give you a moral that has to be taught through your story.**

**Basically the purpose of this forum is to help you get your creative juices flowing, give you a challenge, and run boredom and writer's block out of town for good! And as for the down time between challenges, you can just talk about most anything that you want to. **

**So anyways, we'd love to know what you think of this idea! Feel free to leave a note in your review or send one of us a PM sometime.**

**Crimson Fox4**


	7. Trap!

**Hey everyone! Sorry that I haven't updated this story in what feels like forever, but you'll be happy to know that there's a backlog of chapters on my computer right now that will be posted in the coming weeks!**

**Well, enough of my talking, although I'd like to thank my beta, Unleash The Shadow for editing this chapter, I like how it turned out ;)**

**Go ahead! Read it! It starts out in Finn's POV this time by the way. Oh, and I've done something with the POV switching I've never done in the APAH series yet.... can you guys figure it out? I suppose this will have to be Cookie Challenge #10! First one to leave a review / message me with what they think is different than usual wins a cookie!!!!! ^.^**

**I do not own the Storm Hawks, they are the property of Nerd Corps.**

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Chapter 6

_Trap!_

Once Stork had landed the Condor in the little remaining space in the clearing, he had walked down the ramp to help me put the skimmers away in the hanger bay, but as he walked up to me he started to look around.

"Where's Piper?" Stork asked as he continued to scan the clearing with his eye twitching the whole time.

"Umm…" I began, hesitating a bit before I mumbled hurriedly, "She's gone."

Stork immediately turned and looked at me, the twitch in his eye stopping for a moment before coming back with a vengeance as he screamed, "WHAT!"

"Stork, it's okay!" I reassured the merb before me as I told him, "She just went off to look for the others, I'm sure she'll be just fine!"

_Except she ran away crying..._

Stork just looked at me doubtfully before he sighed in defeat, probably thinking that I was just being ignorant and not telling him the full story, which... when you think about it, I suppose its true.

Glaring at me, he stated, "Help me get the skimmers into the Condor, _then_" he paused as he pointed finger in my face, "You tell me what happened, got it?"

I just nodded my head, eager for Stork to get his finger away from my face.

Stork just kind of snorted before he turned around and I followed him to where the skimmers and Piper's heliscooter were parked.

_He's __**so**__ gonna' flip once I tell him what happened...._

* * *

Piper's POV

Coming to another clearing in the jungle I crouched down in the bushes, having finally found what I had been looking for, and I wasn't overly impressed with what I saw either.

_This clearing... it definitely isn't a natural one._

Looking around the compound of the Cyclonian outpost, I saw that on the far side to my right there was a large stack of trees that had been chopped down, and were waiting to be cut up and burned. It disgusted me that they would just chop down part of the jungle like this just to build a silly outpost so close to their own terra, but I wasn't one to try and understand why they did what they did. The simple answer was always 'they're Cyclonians'.

Studying the area around the outpost more, I felt a knot grow inside my stomach as I saw all of the Talons milling about.

_How am I supposed to get to the others now? It's not so easy for a black panther to blend in with a crowd of Talons, and I can't really shift into anything else less noticeable because the jungle isn't as dense in this part of the terra compared to others, they'd see the flash of light - no question about that. _

Coming to the conclusion that there was no way I was going to be able to get into the building without creating _some _type of racket, I decided I may as well just walk right out into the open, I mean, these Talons would be crazy to attack a widely feared animal, right?

Having figured out what I needed to do in order to gain entrance to the Cyclonian outpost, I began to stealthily creep from one tree to the next until I was facing the outpost once more, except on the opposite side as before, and thankfully on this side there wasn't quite as many Talons standing guard.

_Alright, here goes nothing..._

With a deep breath, and without another thought, I broke free of my cover and ran out into the openness of the clearing between the edge of the jungle and the building. As expected, mass chaos broke out almost instantly.

* * *

The Dark Ace's POV

To pass the time while I waited for the rest of the Storm Hawks and that 'hallucination' to come and make a pointless and fruitless attempt to rescue their friends, I spent my time walking from one cell to another.

The Wallop and the deceased Sky Knight's pet – err – co-pilot, or whatever it was supposed to be didn't speak to me at all. They had retreated into a dark corner of their cell, and I often heard whimpering whenever I walked by. I was never quite sure which one was whining though. For all I knew, it could have been both of them making that pathetic sound.

Whenever I walked by the renegade's cell though, I usually stopped for a few moments, seeing if I could get answers out of him as to why he rescued that Piper girl that the Master wanted so badly, or I'd ask him if he really thought he could replace the Storm Hawk's _dead_ Sky Knight.

The only thing I would get from him though was a cold glare or even the cold shoulder at times when he just completely ignored my question or tried to pretend like he didn't even know I was there.

This renegade was beginning to irk me a bit. After all, this wasn't the first time I had met him. I had seen him before when I had done the daily prison inspection a month ago when we still had that Piper girl captured, and we were still blissfully unaware that the majority of the Storm Hawks had survived the fall into the Wastelands.

_I knew I should've cut their parachute cords ahead of time...I figured it wouldn't matter since they were out cold and all._

I hadn't cared that he was in the same cell as her, he hadn't been a threat then, and we were running out of space in the prison because of all of our 'political prisoners'.

This was now the third time that we had captured this annoying little hooligan, and I sure wasn't going to let him slip through my fingers this time, so when a Talon rushed in saying that a Black Amazonian Panther had been spotted on the south side of the building, I began to look forward to the battle ahead.

"I've got your little shape changing friend now boy, and I'm sure that the rest of the Storm Hawks will be arriving any minute now as well." I said to the renegade in the cell in front of me before I ordered the Talon, "Make sure he doesn't escape while I go and deal with this pest."

* * *

Stork's POV

"How could the others have been captured? How could the Dark Ace be _here_ on _this _terra? _Why_ did Piper go after the others _without_ back-up?!" I yelled at Finn from across the table on the bridge of my precious Condor.

"Calm down Stork!" Finn whined before saying, "You promised you wouldn't get mad if I told you what happened!"

I could feel my right eye begin to twitch again as my patience grew thinner and thinner with the blond sitting across from me. Forcing myself not to yell, I told Finn, "I said I wouldn't get _mad_, right now I am just plain annoyed. Piper didn't even tell me she was going after the others. Actually, she didn't even tell me the others were missing!" Pausing to catch my breath I looked Finn dead in the eye before I asked, "Why _wouldn't _I be angry?"

"Well... at least you're not mad at _me_." Finn said as he walked around the table towards where I stood.

Rolling my eyes, I muttered, "That hasn't been determined yet..."

Finn just shrugged his shoulders before he took out a purplish coloured crystal from his pocket.

"What's that?" I asked as I took it from his hands and began to inspect it before I added, "And where did you get it?"

"It's a message crystal Stork, and it was sort of given to Piper and I by a Cyclonian..."

"AH!" I screamed as I tossed the message crystal in Finn's direction which he was amazingly able to catch. After I wiped my hands on my pants, I turned to Finn and yelled, "Do you KNOW how many diseases they could have coated that crystal with?"

Rolling his eyes, Finn replied, "Chill out Stork, it was in a Cyclonian's pocket _and _hands _before_ he gave it to us. I'm sure he wouldn't have gone near it if it was covered in diseases."

"But we're talking about Cyclonians here Finn! Their minds are twisted and backwards, I'm sure they'd let some poor Talon meet his painful doom by disease and sickness just to get us infected!"

Finn just looked at me shocked for a moment before he said to me, "Piper told me to tell you that we are to listen to the message on this crystal, and if needed, to make a plan."

"And what is this plan supposed to accomplish..." I asked Finn, hoping Piper had given him more details than that.

"I don't know, okay!" Finn replied with a frown. "But I know that we need to listen to the message in this crystal! Piper told us to!"

_Since when does Finn listen to __**anything**__ Piper says?_

I forced myself not to roll my eyes as I nodded and said, "Let's listen to it then."

Nodding as well, Finn quickly activated the crystal and a dark sinister voice immediately filled the Condor's bridge, a voice that I'm sure anyone could've recognized in their sleep,

"_**Hello remaining Storm Hawks. I'm assuming that if you're listening to this, you know I've already captured two members of your squadron and that pesky renegade. Well, I regret to inform you that they are now my prisoners and there is nothing you can do about it. But if you and your little 'hallucination' of a friend feel so inclined to make a rescue attempt, do not fret, your missing friends are still on the terra. Or, if you want to make this easier on yourselves, I propose an exchange. My hostages for the shape changer or Piper, easy as that."**_

As the message crystal faded after the Dark Ace's recording finished playing, I kept staring at the crystal in disbelief of what I had just heard. It seemed that Finn was feeling the same way, as he muttered, "No way..."

Finally prying my eyes away from the crystal that had delivered such bad news, I looked at Finn in the eye, and we both said at the same time, "Piper's walking into a trap!"

Shaking off a bit of my initial disbelief I mumbled to myself, "Well, now we know what Piper meant about making a plan!"

* * *

Aerrow's POV

Once the Dark Ace had left, I was finally alone – if you didn't count the Talon he had left behind to guard me that is.

Unfortunately by the Dark Ace leaving, I now knew that Piper had come to rescue us, and I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Piper had shown up as a Black Amazonian Panther, meaning that she was still using her shape shifting abilities.

I just couldn't get out of my head what the Dark Ace had said earlier...

_I hope Piper's okay, and if she is trying to rescue us, I really hope she made a plan._

While I had been lost in my thoughts, I hadn't noticed that the Talon who the Dark Ace had assigned to watch me was now leaning against the bars of the door.

"May I help you?" I asked bitterly.

The Talon just chuckled as they turned around to face me. I hadn't seen this Talon before in my life, but somehow, I felt as though I knew who he was, there seemed to be _something_ familiar about him.

The Talon just smiled at me for a moment, and just before I was about to ask them again what they wanted, a blue cloud began to form around the guard's feet. Looking on in amazement as a familiar blue cloud surrounded the Talon's body, I stood up and was soon looking into a pair of golden eyes that belonged to a face that was framed with locks of black hair.

_Piper's disguise...._

"Piper?" I whispered as I took a few steps closer so that soon it was only the jail bars that separated us.

Piper just smiled as she nodded her head.

"But, how?" I asked, as I finally realized that if Piper was in here, that the Dark Ace would soon be coming back inside due to the lack of a panther outside.

Piper just smiled some more as she said, "I'm a shape shifter, do I need to say anything else?"

I couldn't help but shake my head in amusement and disbelief all rolled into one before I asked, "Did you find the others yet? Junko and Radarr are in another cell somewhere."

Piper just nodded in response saying, "I've already gone to see them, and I unlocked their cell door, but I told them not to open it and try to escape until I came back with you, or until they thought it was safe."

I grinned as I said, "You thought of everything, didn't you?"

Piper just gave me a small forced smile before she said, "I guess, but none of this would have happened in the first place if I hadn't forced everyone to help me out with this mission, I should've just taken care of it myself." After saying that, Piper's eyes soon found that the cold stone floor was more interesting to look at then I was.

Wrapping my hand over Piper's that was gripping one of the metal bars I told her, "Piper, the Storm Hawks are a team, and you didn't do anything wrong. None of us knew that the Dark Ace was here on Amazonia. It's okay."

Piper looked up at me and gave me a small smile before she whispered, "Thanks Aerrow, I really needed to hear that."

I returned her smile, and was about to say more to her when I heard yelling off in the distance, and the yelling most definitely belonged to none other than the Dark Ace. Piper looked at me with desperation before she said, "Come on, we've got to get you out of here."

She began to fish around in her pocket for something with her hand that I wasn't holding, but I slipped my other arm through the bars and grabbed onto her wrist, causing her to look at me as I said, "No, we don't have time!"

"But Aerrow -" Piper began before I cut her off.

"No Piper, listen to me! The Dark Ace told me that Master Cyclonis ordered him to kill all of the Storm Hawks except for you! And it seems like me, and you, as the Amazonian Guardian, have both been lumped into the Storm Hawks category as of late."

Piper just stared at me in shock before I continued saying, "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. It's you I'm worried about, now go!"

Piper just looked at me before she frowned saying, "You're crazy to think I'm leaving without you Aerrow. You know that."

She began to fish around in her pocket again, and her face had lit up as I assumed she had found what she was looking for, but the look of triumph was soon replaced with a look of pain that washed over her face. Her hand left her pocket, something clasped in it, and she pressed her hand against her head as though she was fighting off a headache.

Grasping her hand that was wrapped around the jail bars tighter, I whispered, "Piper, you okay?"

Piper just shook her head no in reply.

As her face continued to show signs of the pain she was in, I heard the yelling that had been in the distance only a few moments ago now getting closer with each and every second.

Looking Piper over, I saw that the gold coloured eyes she had disguised herself with had blue energy the same colour as her crystal flitting across them.

Piper moaned as her body slipped to the floor, her eyes switching from gold, to blue, to orange, and finally they fell upon and stayed orange.

Looking up at me with an almost apologetic look in her eyes as a blue cloud began to form around her, Piper quickly slipped a cold piece of metal into my hand before the cloud began to dissipate.

"I'm sorry." Piper whispered to me as she gave me one final look of regret, before her beautiful tangerine eyes slowly slipped shut, and a few stray strands of her midnight blue hair fell onto her face.

"Piper, no..." I whispered as I clenched whatever she had given me in my one hand, my other hand still grasping hers. Looking up, I noticed with dismay that the Dark Ace had shown up, his red face showing his anger, but the smirk on his face was what I think troubled me the most.

"Well renegade, looks like you made decent bait after all." The Dark Ace told me before he motioned for two Talons that had accompanied him to pick up Piper who was passed out on the floor.

As the Talons picked Piper up off the floor, I reluctantly let go of her hand. Seeing this, The Dark Ace told me, "No need to worry about her, she'll be just fine living in Cyclonia. Right now, I'd be more worried about the fate you'll be meeting soon."

As they began to walk down the hall to who knows where, I could feel a tear begin to prick at the edge of my eye as I realized that the Dark Ace now held Piper captive, that I was unable to help, and that it was my fault that Piper had shown up here in the first place, she had come to rescue me and the others after all.

_I told her that I wouldn't let anything happen to her... and I just failed to keep her safe – again._

Trying to push down my feelings of remorse, I realized that there was still hope; Piper had unlocked Junko and Radarr's cell, maybe if the Dark Ace walked past them, they'd realize they need to help, or maybe he won't walk past them at all....

I had almost given up hope when I remembered that Piper had given me something before she had passed out.

_Why did she pass out anyways? _

Pondering as to what the answer to my question could be, I suddenly connected the dots.

_The way Piper's eyes were switching colours... that happened the first time she shifted into a Phoenix and she passed out on that terra where I had landed my skimmer! The Amp Stone must have finally taken its toll on her energy... _

With even more urgency to rescue my friends, I slowly uncurled my fingers to reveal a small black metal object was what Piper had given to me.

_So you had a plan after all Piper!_

* * *

Dark Ace's POV

Purposefully not walking past the prison where the two Storm Hawks were being held, I led the two Talons who were dragging the Piper girl to a small interrogation room that was in the centre of the outpost.

After the Talons had taken her into the room and had tightly tied her to a chair, I shut and locked the door leaving the two Talons guard before I walked down the hall to the janitor's closet. Picking up a large bucket, I began to walk to one of the washrooms, and my thoughts wandered the whole time.

_I suppose it was alright being sent here to train the Talons; I __**was**__ able to capture a few Storm Hawks and that renegade after all. I think that pretty much almost made this sorry excuse of an assignment worth it, but what truly made this whole mission worth it was the look on that renegade's face when I took Piper away from him. I suppose they were friends or something._

Shrugging off my thoughts momentarily as I entered the washroom, I filled the bucket up with cold water before I headed back to the interrogation room.

_What I don't get is why the girl was passed out on the floor. I guess it doesn't really matter at the moment though, I captured her, and that's all Master Cyclonis really wanted. She never said __**how**__ I had to capture Piper._

_Besides, there is a quick and simple remedy for waking up someone who's knocked out._

I couldn't help the sinister smile that began to spread across my face as I entered the small square room where the knocked out girl was bound to a chair. Closing the door behind me, I turned around and walked up to the unconscious teenager before me.

Without a second thought, I threw the water inside of the bucket at the girl's face.

Hearing a gasp come from her, I pulled up the other chair that was in the room, and spun it around and sat on it backwards so that I was sitting on the chair, my crossed arms resting on the back of it, my body facing the outpost's newest prisoner.

The girl looked around for a few moments, disoriented before her eyes finally fell upon me. It took her all of a few moments before she began to glare.

"So you're finally awake." I said to the girl, smirking at the surprised look I received before her face once again hardened. Continuing I asked, "What, didn't you know we found you on the floor unconscious? I bet it was the renegade that knocked you out."

Turning her face away from me, I raised one of my eyebrows as I questioned, "So he did, did he?" In response, she just glanced at me from out of the edge of her eye, the look on her face screaming defiance.

Seeing my chance to bring her silence to an end I said, "So, let me get this straight, he rescued you from a prison in the heart of Cyclonia a month ago and now he decides to hand you over to us once more?"

I noticed that the girl had closed her eyes, as though she was trying to ignore me. Getting up from my chair, I stood up and moved towards the girl before I stooped down so that I would be eye to eye with her I continued, "Or maybe he knew that he had failed. He knew that he had failed to protect you because you had come to rescue him. He failed, just like your little Sky Knight did."

What I had just said seemed to do the trick, as her eyes shot open, shooting daggers of hatred in my direction before she hissed, "Aerrow's a great Sky Knight. He would never abandon me or the others in our time of need!"

Shaking my head I roared, "Don't you see, girl?! Your Sky Knight is _dead_. He has been for some time now!" Bending down even further, I stuck my face near hers and whispered, "No one can help you now."

The girl and I stared at each other for a moment, trying to size the other up before the girl asked me a question that swung our 'conversation' in a new direction, "Why am I here?"

Taken aback a bit at her sudden question, I straightened up and asked her my own question, "Does it really matter?"

"Yes, I may as well know why I'm here."

When I didn't answer her right away, she asked, "Why?" her eyes boring into mine.

Replying, I told her "Master Cyclonis wanted me to capture you for her, is that a good enough answer?"

The Piper girl just continued to stare at me before saying, "If she just wants me, then why did you capture the others?"

I began to return the glare, as I didn't especially like how this teenager was speaking to me with little to no respect. "Well, if you must know, I needed them as bait to get you to come here, and now that you've shown up, they can be disposed of." I answered with a smirk.

Narrowing her eyes at what I had just said, she queried, "You mean letting them go, _right_?"

"Of course not," I retorted before continuing, "Master Cyclonis has ordered me to kill any Storm Hawks who cross my path except for you, so I intend to do just that."

It was now the girl who was smirking and I couldn't help but back up a bit as her eyes began to flash between their amber colour to an eerie light blue as she said, "Wrong answer."

_What in the Atmos is wrong with the girl's eyes?! And what does she mean, 'wrong answer'?_

Knowing that people's eyes didn't glow, I felt myself backing up further and further away from the girl until I felt my back hit the wall behind me.

_This is crazy! Why am I backing up from some girl that's tied to a chair? But then again, something creepy is going on with her eyes..._

Forcing myself to look at the girl's eyes once more, I noticed that they were no longer just switching between orange and blue, there was now a dark, almost black colour accompanying the others.

Closing her eyes for a moment, I noticed that there was a blue glow about her, causing me to say, "What are you..." But my voice trailed off as she opened her eyes to reveal that they were now rich mocha colour with no trace of the tangerine colour her eyes had been moments before.

Staring at me once more with an ever growing smile on her face, I was forced to close my eyes as the blue glow began to turn into a swirling light blue cloud that totally enveloped the girl, the force of the wind from the whirlwind of blue clouds was so great that it was threatening to knock me over, and was stirring up so much dust and dirt from the floor that I could feel it pelting my face.

_Why do those blue clouds seem so familiar?_

I only dared to open my eyes again when the wind had died down, and the sight that met my eyes made my blood run cold.

Before me where the girl had been sitting, all that remained was a few lengths of rope that had somehow been cut, and the wooden chair that she had been sitting on was knocked over and appeared to have claw marks on it.

_But where did she go?_

Before I even had a chance to look elsewhere, there was a flash of bright blue that I saw from the corner of my eye, and without thinking I took my sword and shot several balls of energy into the corner of the room where I had seen the flash come from.

_There's no way whatever was over there could have been able to dodge that, they'll be out like a light for sure._

As I glanced triumphantly at the slowly settling dust, I couldn't help but smirk in anticipation of my victory.

* * *

**So, what do you guys think of the new chapter? Good, bad, unexpected? (I bet the title ruined it for ya! :P) Oh, don't mind me, I just had pop ^.^**

**Anyways, a huge thanks goes out to all of those loyal and faithful reviewers out there that are still following the APAH series! Speaking of which, I'll be making a really important announcement about the APAH series at the end of this story, so keep an eye out for it ;)**

**Crimson Fox4**

**PS. I _am _going to finish my Christmas fic for those who are wondering, but unfortunately I haven't had anytime lately to type it up, so please be patient with me! I'll try and get it all typed out before the end of January, how's that? :P**

**PPS. Come check out the forum "Phoenix Fable Challenges" I know you guys will love it ;D**


	8. A Painful Past

**Sorry that I haven't updated this story a lot lately! I've sort of been pre-occupied with other stuff... sorry! :(**

**As always, I'd like to thank Unleash The Shadow for sticking with me and editing all of my chapters for me! :D :D :D**

**This chapter begins in the Dark Ace's Point of View by the way (Oh, and you may find this chapter a little dry... you'll see why when you read it).**

**I do not own the Storm Hawks, they are the property of Nerd Corps.**

* * *

Chapter 7

_A Painful Past_

As the dust that had been whipping about only moments before started to settle, I began to advance confidently towards the corner where I had shot several blasts of energy from my weapon, at least until a small gust of wind buffeted my body and another flash of blue temporarily blinded me that is.

Too dazed to fire my sword again, I blinked my eyes repeatedly until I finally regained some of my eye sight.

Squinting, I saw the form of a girl stand up and surprisingly it appeared they had jumped through the wall.

_But that doesn't make any sense, how would they be able to walk through a wall? I must be dreaming or hallucinating or __**something**_**!**

Blinking my eyes some more, I heard the faint noise of the door to the room opening, but I ignored it as I walked towards the wall the girl had jumped through. With my eyesight almost back to normal, I saw that she _hadn't_ walked or jumped through the wall, but had rather managed to squeeze through a hole in the wall I had created when I had fired my weapon.

Staring at the hole in front of me, I heard two pairs of footsteps approach before someone gave out a long whistle prior to saying, "What happened in here boss?"

Growling, I ignored the urge to smack the two Talons upside the head before I raced out of the room and into the hallways of the outpost in search of the Storm Hawk that had somehow managed to escape from me.

I quickly began to head towards the prison area of the building, knowing full well that the girl would probably go and see that renegade first.

_It's a good thing that Sky Knights and their squadrons are so easy to predict what they would do in this kind of situation because of their 'No one gets left behind' rule. Then again, this girl is getting harder and harder to predict, and that renegade __**isn't**__ a Sky Knight...._

* * *

Aerrow's POV

Using the key that Piper had given me before she had shifted back to normal and passed out, I had just unlocked my door when I heard the footsteps of someone approaching at an unusually fast rate.

Hiding the key in my pocket, I went and laid down on the small cot in the far corner of my cell, waiting for whoever it was to run by. But as I pretended to be asleep, I heard the footsteps stop in front of my cell.

_If they're here to drag me off, they'd better know they're in for a fight..._

My train of thought was interrupted however when I heard a female voice hiss urgently, "Aerrow!"

Jumping off of my cot in one fluid motion, I turned towards the barred door where I saw a rather flustered Piper waiting impatiently for me. Dashing over I exclaimed, "Piper! How did you-"

But before I could say anything else, words began to spill out of her mouth, trying to tell me as much as she could in a short period of time. "Aerrow, I just escaped from the Dark Ace using my shape shifting abilities, and before you say, 'what were you thinking!', don't worry, I'm pretty sure he never _saw_ me shifting, if anything he would have only seen the clouds."

"Piper, still, that was a pretty risky move..."

Piper just smirked as she said, "I guess your daring streak must be wearing off on me, but listen. I'm going to lure the Dark Ace outside; I'll be able to buy us more time that way."

"Buy us time? What are you talking about Piper?"

"You unlocked your cell door by now, right?" I nodded my head up and down quickly before Piper continued, "Once you know the coast is clear, go down this hallway to the left to find Junko and Radarr's cell. Find them, and head back this way past this cell, and keep going until you reach a door that leads to the outside, got it?"

"Piper, are you sure you can handle fighting the Dark Ace by yourself? I mean-" But before I could finish voicing my worries, Piper placed her finger on my lips, signalling for me to be quiet.

"Aerrow," Piper began in a whisper, "I'll be fine. I don't plan on fighting the Dark Ace to win, I'm fighting him to give you and the others time to escape. When I know you guys are okay, I'll leave."

I was about to protest before Piper looked me in the eye and said quietly, "You can't always be the hero Aerrow."

Keeping her gaze I replied, "I know, but that doesn't make what you're about to do any safer."

Pier searched my eyes for a moment before she averted her gaze away from mine and took a few steps back from the prison cell. "I've got to go." Piper mumbled before adding, "The Dark Ace will be here any minute, and I need to get a head start."

As she turned to run down the hallway, she glanced back at me and gave me a small smile before she whispered, "I'll be fine, don't worry." And with that she dashed down the darkened corridor and was soon out of sight.

Blinking a few times to make sure I wasn't dreaming, I groaned as I sat back down on the dusty cot as the reality of things finally hit me head on.

_Piper's escaped, and now she's risking her freedom and safety to get us all out of here._

Propping my head up with one of my hands, I sighed as I heard approaching footsteps and someone muttering under their breath.

_When exactly did my daring streak rub off on Piper? I really don't think I want her to do anything like this again... or right now for that matter either._

Looking up when I heard the sound of someone stopping in front of my cell, I was met with the sight of an angered Dark Ace whose hair would've given someone the impression he'd just been out in the middle of a windstorm, however, I knew what had really caused it as something Piper had just said to me moments before came to mind.

'_I'm pretty sure he never saw me shifting, if anything he would have only seen the clouds.'_

_Clouds huh? I guess they usually do whirl around her pretty fast, and if they were in a room or a cell somewhere... maybe he __**did**__ go through a windstorm after all._

I smirked inwardly as the Dark Ace glared at me for a moment before stating, "Where is she?"

"Pardon?" I replied as I put my hands behind me and leaned back a little against the wall.

Glaring at me, the Dark Ace yelled, "You know who I mean! Where's the girl!"

"Girl? There's many a girl in the Atmos, but I don't know if there are very many that you would actually stand a chance with there Ace."

The Dark Ace just glowered at me before he said forcibly, "That's not what I was talking about, _boy_." The Dark Ace continued to look at me with anger in his eyes, but for a moment I thought I saw a hint of laughter in his them before he said, "I was asking where _your_ little girlfriend went."

It was my turn to scowl as I said, "She's _not _my girlfriend."

The Dark Ace smirked, saying, "Right..." Trailing off, his face soon hardened as he demanded, "Now I'll ask you again renegade, where is the Piper girl?"

Lying down on my cot, I crossed my arms behind my head before I stated, "You just missed her."

The Dark Ace gave a muffled cry of anger before he yelled, "Which way did she go!"

I just glanced over at the black haired man, raising an eyebrow as I said, "I assume she didn't have your consent to come and visit me?"

Narrowing his eyes the Dark Ace hissed, "What do _you _think?"

"Why do you think I asked _you_?"

The Dark Ace looked really angry now, it seemed like he was beginning to get annoyed with me for going around in circles.

_If Piper is going to fight the Dark Ace, I want to give her as long as possible to regain her energy if she fainted just a bit ago from a lack of it. But then again, I don't want the Dark Ace so furious that he'll try to take Piper's head off...._

Staring straight at the ceiling of the stone cell I told the Dark Ace simply, "If you had just managed to escape your captor in the middle of a building that your enemies had designed, what would you do?"

Glancing over in the Dark Ace's direction, I saw him smirking before he began to say, "First I find her unconscious in front of your cell, and then she manages to escape from my interrogation room without a scratch. There's something weird going on here renegade, and I'm going to figure it out!"

Before I could reply, or before he could see the shocked look on my face, the Dark Ace was running in the direction Piper had told me led to the outside.

_Well Piper, congratulations, the Dark Ace is getting suspicious of what's going on. I know you told me your plan and everything, but you never told me who you were going to fight him as; Plain old Piper, or the true Piper._

Suddenly feeling the urgency of rescuing the others, and in turn getting Piper away from the Dark Ace, I jumped off of the cot, ran over to the doorway, and soon I was out and running down the hallway to try and find Junko and Radarr.

_I just hope we get there in time to help Piper!_

* * *

Piper's POV

As soon as I had made it outside, I looked around, trying to find somewhere to make my stand against the Dark Ace, that or a good place where I could ambush him. My eyes had swept the whole area around the building before they finally landed on something useful.

"This could work..." I mumbled to myself as I began to climb a ladder that was attached to the walls of the Cyclonian outpost. Once I was on top of the roof, I moved to a position where I could see the door I had just come out of easily, but no one on the ground could see me unless they were really looking.

'_Piper, are you sure you can handle fighting the Dark Ace by yourself?'_

I groaned inwardly as Aerrow's words from a couple of minutes ago came to mind.

'_Aerrow, I'll be fine. I don't plan on fighting the Dark Ace to win, I'm fighting him to give you and the others time to escape. When I know you guys are okay, I'll leave.'_

As I remembered what my reply to his question was, I muttered, "Sorry Aerrow, you guys aren't safe yet, so when the Dark Ace comes out of those doors, I'm fighting him whether you like it or not."

_Or if I like it or not..._

-----

After waiting on the roof for another minute or two, I was beginning to second guess whether I was good enough bait to get the Dark Ace and Talons away from the others when low and behold, none other than the Cyclonian Commander himself walked out of the doors below me and into the clearing below.

I watched as he turned around slowly, his eyes darting this way and that before I heard his menacing voice call out, "Come on Hawk, I know you're out here, there's no point in hiding."

When silence was all that met the Dark Ace, he began to sneer as he called out again, "You're hiding from me like all of the Talons do, I don't think you'd want to associate your standing with theirs, do you?"

I felt my anger rise as unclipped my staff from my belt.

When I still didn't reply to his beckoning, he said, "I never knew Hawks were ones to stick there heads in the ground to hide from their enemies. I thought they were supposed to fly."

Extending my staff to its full length, I quickly jumped off of the roof, my staff raised over my head, ready to strike the Dark Ace whose back was facing me.

Turning around with lightning fast reflexes, there was a loud clang as his glowing red sword blocked the downward strike of my staff.

Both of us were glaring at the other, neither of us losing much ground as we pressed our weapons against each others until with a grunt, the Dark Ace threw me off. Twisting my body around in the air, I landed a few feet opposite of the Dark Ace with my staff raised in a defensive position.

Staring my opponent down, I finally answered him saying, "Hawks don't just fly, they soar!"

Frowning, the Dark Ace ran at me suddenly, and I almost wasn't quick enough to block his attack. Our weapons clashed against each other in a dangerous dance of red light and silver metal as I did my best to block each of his attacks.

We fought for another minute before our weapons met, strike for strike again, each of us pressing against each others weapons with all of our strength. The Dark Ace again somehow found a surge of energy and pushed me away, except this time I wasn't able to use his energy to flip myself backwards and unto my feet.

With a thud, I felt myself fall to the ground, the wind pushed out of my lungs because of the force in which the Dark Ace had shoved me to the ground, my staff slipping out of my hands, rolling out of reach.

I groaned as I finally caught my breath, wondering why the Dark ace hadn't finished me off. Struggling to sit up, I looked up only to see the Dark Ace with a sadistic look on his face as red energy from his sword that looked like electricity enveloped his body. The Dark Ace jumped into the air, flipped, and before I knew it, a massive ball of red energy was hurtling towards me and had hit me in the stomach.

I could feel myself skidding across the rough ground, and I soon came to an abrupt halt as my back collided with one of the trees bordering the clearing around the Cyclonian Outpost.

While I was still slightly dazed, I could hear the Dark Ace chuckling before I heard him remark snidely, "You sure aren't soaring now."

Ignoring the black haired man, I moaned as I once more tried to catch my breath, and a sudden shockwave of pain ripped down my side. Slowly, I placed my right hand on my left side, and hissed through my teeth as even simply touching my side made me want to scream in agony.

Ignoring the pain as best I could, I placed my hand on my side again only to touch something wet, warm, and slightly sticky.

Forcing myself to look at my stomach, I groaned as I saw the rip in my uniform, the edges of the rip turning a crimson colour as blood continued to flow freely from the fresh wound.

Leaning back against the tree, I groaned once more.

'_I'll be fine, don't worry.' Why did I ever tell Aerrow that? Oh, right, to make him __**not**_ _worry about me... whoops._

I attempted to get up, but before I could, a glowing red sword was pointed at my throat as I heard the Dark Ace whisper, "I wouldn't move if I were you."

Glaring daggers at the man towering over me, he just laughed as he moved his sword away from my throat and said, "I know that's a pretty nasty wound you got there, receiving it point blank and all, so I _know_ you won't be getting up without any help anytime soon.

"Thanks for the concern." I muttered before I added, "Didn't your Master want me alive?"

The Dark Ace cocked his eyebrow as he said, "You're alive, are you not?"

I just glared as the Dark Ace smirked at me before he knelt down on one knee so that he was eye level with me. Searching my eyes for a moment, he asked, "I could have sworn that the last time I saw your eyes that they were black. I wonder if that was before or after they were blue." The Dark Ace's smirk just grew as I stopped glaring at him, my eyes taking on a wary look instead.

Standing up again, the Dark Ace continued to speak, "Oh yes, _Piper_ I saw your eyes change colour, but what I really want to know is why they did." Pausing for a moment to glance at me to see if I was going to talk, the Dark Ace just shrugged his shoulders after he decided I wasn't going to give a response before he told me, "I suppose we'll be doing this the hard way then."

_The hard way? What is he talking about?_

He paced for a moment in front of me before he said, "I've been here for a few days now, and I'm only able to train the Talons in the morning. After that I have a bit of time to myself and it just so happens that at each outpost Master Cyclonis has us keep the history of the terra on hand and records of _all_Cyclonian operations on the terra in which the outpost is stationed on."

Still not receiving a reply or comment from me, the Dark Ace continued on in his story that seemed irrelevant. "Since I am not overly familiar with this terra despite its close proximity to Cyclonia, I havebeen going through all of the files we possess on it whether it is geographical information, or historic. I found the history on its now absent people most interesting though. All of the native human inhabitants had dark skin, much like yours is in fact, but what I thought the most peculiar thing about these people was their old legends and folklore."

_What is he getting at?_

Continuing his story once more the Dark Ace elaborated, "The legends were about a powerful being that protected them, but lived among them in secret. No one ever knew the name of this being, they always just referred to their protector as the "The Amazonian Guardian". An interesting name, no?"

_Why? Why is he telling me about this? Does he - no! He couldn't know, could he?_

Seeing the recognition that must have crept onto my face, the Dark Ace asked, "So you know the legend then?"

I just nodded my head slightly, trying in vain to get my side to stop bleeding by pressing my hand against it as I whispered, "All young children have been told the tale of the Amazonian Guardian, but it's just a myth."

The Dark Ace just simply grinned, his grin making him look like a Sky Shark ready to attack its helpless prey before he said simply, "That's what everyone and _everything_says, at least everything except for five old Cyclonian operations reports from anywhere from about twenty to ten years ago. All reports pertaining to separate missions, all mentioning the Amazonian Guardian."

He gave me a once over, lingering on my face, trying to figure out what I was thinking from my expression before he said, "The first mission was a simple reconnaissance, the Talons were to gain intel as to whether or not the myth about the Amazonian Guardian was true or not. They asked all of the inhabitants, but one in particular was quite un-co-operative. She refused to tell the Talons anything until they told her who they were and where they were from."

"The old Master Cyclonis, after reading their reports told them to go and find the woman and kidnap her to bring back to Cyclonia for further questioning as to why she was so un-co-operative, for he was quite perplexed at her actions."

"The Second mission was just as the Master ordered, they were to kidnap the woman and bring her back to Cyclonia. Something they should have been able to do in their sleep, but apparently it was not so. When they kidnapped the woman, they bound her feet, wrists, and gagged her before putting her into a sack and dragging her out of the village in the dead of night."

The Dark Ace paused for a moment, once more trying to gauge my reaction to his story before he resumed telling it. "When the group of five Talons had reached their skimmers on the edge of the terra, in around the same area where I parked your friends skimmers," Pausing for a moment to try and look thoughtful, he interrupted his own ranting to ask, "You did find them, didn't you?" I hoped the glare that he earned from me was answer enough.

Apparently it was as he once more continued, "Anyways, once the Talons had reached their skimmers, they opened up the bag to check on their prisoner only to be blinded by a bright blue light before an angry Black Amazonian Panther jumped out of the bag. Needless to say the Talons were no match for the panther, but what the panther failed to realize was that it had only knocked out four of the five Talons that it had attacked."

The Dark Ace's eyes stared into mine as he stated, "Before the Talon's eyes, a blue cloud formed around the panther. The cloud soon cleared and the panther was no longer there, but in its place was the woman that was _supposed_ to be bound and gagged inside of the bag."

"No..." I whispered as I finally realized what the Dark Ace was saying.

"That was exactly what I thought when I first read those two reports," The Dark Ace began, a slight hint of sarcasm to his voice, as though he was enjoying messing with my head.

_Of course he's enjoying messing with my head! He's __**the**__Dark Ace, a Cyclonian. I bet this is what he lives for._

I frowned as he began to continue with the history lesson that I knew all too well. "But then I read three more reports that had to do with the exact same woman just to make sure the Talon wasn't _hallucinating_or anything of the sort. The first told of how the old Master of Cyclonia had concluded two years after the second mission to Amazonia that the woman who the Talons had failed to capture was actually a shape changer. This information however wasn't put into use until a year later though."

I could feel myself slowly growing weaker as I lost more and more blood from the deep cut on my side, but the Dark Ace didn't seem to care, he just continued on rambling about the history of _my_terra that somehow he and other Cyclonians knew about.

"A single elite Talon was sent in on the third mission to observe the woman to see if she was indeed a shape changer, one of the things that they found out that she had recently become married. After a few weeks of observation, the woman still hadn't shown any signs of being a shape changer, so the Talon was ordered to make direct confrontation with the Amazonian."

"Following orders, they went and talked to the woman one day when she went to one of the village's many wells. The Talon told her that the Master of Cyclonia knew that she was really the Amazonian Guardian, and in short was in need of her abilities. But like the first group of unfortunate Talons that tangled with this certain Amazonian, this one was attacked by a black panther, but not before they were blinded with a bright flash of blue light."

Looking me over to see if I was squirming yet, the Dark Ace began to tell me more of what he had learned about Amazonian history recently. "The fourth mission was in around thirteen to twelve years ago when the old Master of Cyclonia sent one of his commanders and their Talon squadron to the terra at night to try and talk the Guardian into joining Cyclonia. If she refused, they were given permission to use any force needed to bring her to Cyclonia."

"After another confrontation in an alleyway, several crippled Cyclonian fighters returned that night beaten and bruised, however once again the report noted that before they were attacked by a Black Amazonian Panther, blue clouds circled the woman and a bright flash of light followed. Once the clouds had cleared away, a panther stood in the Amazonian's place, the Guardian nowhere to be found."

_The night I found out about the legacy of my family, that's the night Dark ace is talking about!_

Once again kneeling in front of me, the Dark Ace whispered, "While it was like the other reports, this one was slightly different. It mentioned that before the blue cloud formed, the eyes of the woman changed from their normal colour, to a blue like the colour of the clouds that surrounded her, to a black colour."

Leaning in so close that I could smell what he had had for lunch he hissed, "I don't know about you but that all sounds pretty familiar to me." Standing back up, the Dark Ace stared down at me before he remarked, "I think you know as well as I do what happened on this terra about 10 years ago on the night the fifth and final mission was completed," pausing for a moment as he stared down at me with satisfaction, he narrowed his eyes saying, "The complete annihilation of _your_ people!"

Looking up at the Dark Ace as I narrowed my own eyes, I replied, "If you truly killed _all_of the people of Amazonia, why would you think I'm an Amazonian? Let alone imply that I'm a shape changer of all things!"

_After all, I'm a shape __**shifter**__!_

An evil grin formed on the Dark Ace's lips before an unpleasant laugh erupted from his throat. "You still don't get it, do you girl?" He asked as his laughter died down.

Glaring at the man before me I replied, "What is there to get? Cyclonians were the reason of the extinction of a whole race of people!"

He simply shrugged his shoulders in a nonchalant way before he said, "That may be so, but you know who tried to come to their rescue?" Pausing for dramatic effect, the Dark Ace spat, "The old Storm Hawks."

I couldn't think of anything to say, so the Dark Ace began to rant, "I was there too! I was that Sky Knight's co-pilot! We fought hard, but the battle was already lost before we even got the distress call. Once we got there, only a few Talon's remained who were setting fire to the huts, they had already accomplished their mission. All of the villagers were dead."

Looking me in the eyes, he stated, "But you and I both know that isn't true. A single Amazonian survived that Talon raid all those years ago. In fact, it was just a little girl. With our Sky Knight being the big softy he was, he took the girl in and his wife treated her as her own child, and of course his precious little boy got a playmate."

Seeing the recognition beginning to form in my eyes, the Dark Ace hissed, "That's right, _Piper_, I remember you, and how you have no true family, no true home, and you know what, ever since your Sky Knight failed you and fell to his death, you don't even have a childhood friend anymore. I almost feel responsible..."

Closing my eyes, I tried to ignore the anger and hatred that was building inside of me because of what the Dark Ace had just said.

Looking up at him, I said, "You should feel responsible, it's _your_fault Aerrow died!"

_Now I just have to keep this charade up whenever I'm around the Dark Ace, and he'll never know that Aerrow is actually the renegade!_

Looking down at me, the Dark Ace just sneered before he hissed, "I'm not trying to remind you of his death, I'm trying to give you information about _your_ terra's history, and how dead it and its people are."

That was the last straw. Looking up at the Dark Ace, I spat, "You think you have everything figured out about me? About my people? About this terra? Well let me tell you, there's a lot more than meets the eye, and you sure don't know what sort of grave mistake those Talons made 11 years ago." Finishing what I wished to say, I looked away from the man towering above me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Dark Ace raise his eyebrow in question, a small smirk playing across his face as he asked, "A mistake, huh? Please enlighten me as to what it could possibly be."

Closing my eyes as I focused on the growing pulse of energy within the Amp Stone hanging from my neck, I felt the blue clouds begin to form around me before I finally opened my eyes which I guessed were now switching between a blue and black colour.

_I know what I'm about to do will give my family secret away, but what choice do I have? I don't think the guys have made it out safely yet, and the Dark Ace already seems to know about me. Ugh! If only I hadn't used my shape shifting abilities to get out of that interrogation room! But where would the guys and I be now if I hadn't..._

As my Amp Stone began to shine brighter, and the blue clouds began to form fully, the pain in my side lessened. Knowing what I had to do, I couldn't help but think;

_Hello catastrophe!_

As I stood, I whispered, "You didn't get all of the Amazonians that night, and I'd have to say, that was obviously a big mistake."

* * *

**Well, I hope you all enjoyed this new chapter! I'm not really sure when chapter 8 will be up, but it'll get posted eventually! :D Oh, and sorry if this chapter was a little dry near the end with the Dark Ace's lecture / history lesson, there will be more action in the next chapter ;)**

**_Crimson Fox4_**


	9. Identity Revealed

**Merci beaucoup to Unleash The Shadow for editing this chapter for me! :D**

**Well, here's chapter eight for those of you who are still sticking with this story! I hope you enjoy it, and hey, it wasn't such an enormously long wait for a new chapter this time I don't think... Yay! xD Anyways, this chapter starts out in the Dark Ace's Point of view for those who care ;)**

**I do not own the Storm Hawks, they are the property of Nerd Corps.**

* * *

Chapter 8

_Identity Revealed_

Taking a few steps back from the teenager standing in front of me, I felt my grip on my still glowing sword lessen as blue clouds began to form around her at an ever increasing pace. And I couldn't get what she had just said out of my head.

'_You didn't get all of the Amazonians that night, and I'd have to say, that was a big mistake.'_

As the clouds began to thin and disperse, I gripped the hilt of my sword tightly as I raised it into a battle position.

_Who cares if this girl can change into a panther, she'll still be injured, and she'll be easier to hit than ever!_

As the dispersal of the blue clouds got to a point where I could see the shape of a panther, a sudden thought came to mind.

_Wait a second, she stood up! With that wound I gave her, I was beginning to wonder if she would even live, let alone stand. What's going on here?_

With only the stray remnants of the blue clouds floating about now, I was now face to face with a black Amazonian Panther; otherwise know as Piper the Storm Hawk.

I could hear the growl coming from the back of her throat as we began to circle around each other, both wary of the other's attack. As we continued to circle, I gloated, "Well done, _Piper_, if that's truly your name – you just confirmed my theory that you're a descendant of the Amazonian Guardian."

Smiling a razor sharp tooth filled grin, I was surprised when the panther said, "I knew _someone_ would figure it out sooner or later, but trust me, you weren't the one I suspected would figure it out. But that's besides the fact as you still don't have all of the pieces to the puzzle yet!"

Trying to shake off the fact that she could talk while she was a panther, I retorted, "That's funny, I thought I did."

"Well you don't!" The panther spat before charging me, trying to swipe her claws at me. Dodging out of the way, I winced as I felt a claw make contact with the back of my calf.

Standing up, trying to show that I wasn't fazed by her scratching me, I hissed, "That's the best you've got?"

The panther appeared to smirk before it pounced at me again. Unfortunately for her, I was ready this time. Stepping out of the way just as she passed, I caused her to miss me and roll in the dirt until she hit another tree.

As the panther shook the cobwebs out if its head, I walked over and with a few flicks of my sword, I had landed several blows along its back and legs, none of the cuts seriously deep, but bad enough that blue clouds began to form around the panther once more.

After a bright flash of light, I looked down on the ground to see Piper back to her normal form - if you wanted to call it that - except the wound on her stomach seemed to have gotten worse, and she now had many bruises and cuts along the length of her limbs.

"I'm not sure whether I should take you back to Master Cyclonis dead or alive _girl_." I told her as she moaned, hardly moving. Sneering at her weakness, I added, "On one hand, she wants you to be brought to her alive, but on the other hand, she said if I ever met the 'hallucination' we saw, to kill them."

"Decisions, decisions." I muttered to myself as I turned my sword off.

Grasping the hilt of my sword firmly, I was about to hit her over the head to knock her out when I heard an angry voice yell, "Leave her alone!" Before I felt myself being thrown against a tree after a ball of energy hit me.

Aerrow's POV

Having already sent Radarr and Junko to rampage the rest of the outpost for a radio, or anything useful so that we could contact the Condor, I had dashed outside to find Piper so that we could leave. To my great dismay, when I had rounded one of the corners of the building I came face to face with a scene of almost nightmarish proportions.

Piper was on the ground, battered, bruised, and bleeding, and from where I was standing, I couldn't see the rise and fall of her chest. That alone was one of my worst nightmares – to see one of my team-mates injured – but then you had to add the fact that the Dark Ace was standing over her limp body, about to strike her with his sword.

"Leave her alone!" I cried, my voice filled with anger as I drew one of my energy blades from its holder on my back before I sent a ball of energy towards the Dark Ace.

I winced as I saw the Dark ace go flying and hit a tree, but I was more concerned about getting to Piper than my own safety after the Dark Ace got up again.

Racing across the dirt covered clearing, I slid to a stop next to Piper before I said urgently, "Piper! Piper, can you hear me?" Receiving no response, I gathered Piper into my arms, assessing her wounds.

Quickly looking her over, I saw that she didn't have any real serious injuries, most of them weren't very deep, but my heart stopped when I saw the nasty wound that was on her side.

Sighing, I whispered to a nearly unconscious Piper, "Look what you've gone and done to yourself this time!"

Shaking my head in dismay, I was preparing to lift Piper up and get her as far away from here as possible when a dark, annoyed voice behind me hissed, "Put the girl down renegade, she'll be much safer in Cyclonia. _We_, at least, have people there that will protect her; a job that you _and_ her old Sky Knight seemed to have failed at!"

Feeling my blood begin to boil at my enemy's words, I laid Piper back down on the ground gingerly before I stood up, my back still facing the Dark Ace.

"Face it boy," The voice came again, taunting, "You know that the only reason why you escaped the cell I locked you in was because of the girl and her 'distraction'. I could see through your plan all along, and once I figured out that this Piper girl is a shape changer, well, that was the cherry on top."

Growling, I whipped around and yelled, "Leave Piper out of this! She's not the one you want to kill, _I am._"

Rolling his eyes, the Dark Ace replied, "How chivalrous of you, but sadly, I'm out to kill both of you now, after all, _you're_ a wanted fugitive, and _her,_" The Dark Ace pointed to Piper behind where I stood before he continued, "She's a slightly different story. Master Cyclonis wants her on our side because of her skills with crystals, but in light of my recent discovery, that may change. After all, I was ordered to kill off that 'hallucination' if I ever found out who or what it was."

Glaring at the evil man before me, I took both of my blades from their holders and activated them before I hissed, "You have to go through me before you even _touch_ Piper!"

Smirking, the Dark Ace ignited his sword, its red glow complementing the green colour my blades were now because of the advanced chroma crystals in my shoes. Taking a step forward, the Dark Ace told me, "I think I shall, thank you for the offer, but if you hadn't noticed already, I've already hurt the girl pretty badly."

With a cry of anguish, I brought up my blades as the Dark Ace slashed his sword downwards towards me. Our weapons met with a faded clang, and the crackling of electricity was heard as the different energies from our weapons mingled.

Shoving the Dark Ace away from me with all of my strength, I flipped away from Piper so that she wouldn't be caught in the crossfire from the battle that as sure to ensue.

Turning to face my opponent, I raised my weapons, ready for his next attack. The Dark Ace ran at me, and once again I managed to block the downward strike of his weapon. Taking a step back, the Dark Ace and I began to exchange blow for blow, strike for strike, and near miss after near miss as we continued to battle, getting ever closer to the edge of the terra with each blow or strike exchanged.

Our fight raged on until we came to the edge of the terra, the Dark Ace's footing slipping in the loose soil. As he lowered and deactivated his weapon in a sign of defeat, I made the mistake of lowering my guard as I glanced over my shoulder to see if Piper was still okay.

Turning back around just in time to see the Dark Ace's foot on a collision course for my chest, I felt the impact to my ribs before I fell backwards, skidding along the ground for a moment. Moaning, I was about to get up when I cried out in pain when a weight came crashing down upon my now sore ribs.

Looking up, I saw it was none other than the Dark Ace who had pinned me to the ground. Sneering at me, the he taunted, "You're pitiful renegade, you know that?"

"You're one to talk!" I retorted before I cried out again as the Dark Ace put more weight into the foot he was using to keep me pinned down.

Frowning, he continued, "You're pitiful because you had a chance to finish me and you didn't. Instead, you took that tick in time to check up on a girl you hardly even know."

_Too bad I do! She's my best friend. Why would I __**ever**__ let you hurt her!_

Fighting to keep my thoughts inside my head, the Dark Ace pointed to the slumped form of Piper behind him with his deactivated sword before he hissed, "Well, maybe I should blast her right now," The Dark Ace paused for a moment before he activated his sword. "Then you'll see how pitiful your attempts to save her really were."

I felt the beginnings of tears begin to bite at the edges of my eyes as I whispered, hoarsely, "No, you – you can't do that!"

The Dark Ace grinned at me maniacally before he turned around, took aim, and fired at Piper.

I gasped as the bolt of red energy hit the metal Storm Hawks crest on her back, causing her body to flip, and come to a sliding stop with the front of her body facing us.

"Piper!" I yelled in dismay as I managed to squirm free from the weight of the Dark Ace's foot. Stumbling as I ran over to her, I felt my legs begin to turn to jelly as I stood once more between her and our enemy.

With my knees finally giving out, I found myself kneeling next to Piper's unmoving form. Reaching out a shaking hand, I touched Piper's cheek and instantly retracted my hand in shock from the coolness of her skin. Feeling the tears in my eyes once more threatening to spill over, I touched her cheek again and forced myself not to move my hand.

_Piper, I, I – I'm sorry... I never meant for this to happen, you were __**never**__ supposed to die; I promised I'd take care of you!_

I heard footsteps approach from behind me, but I didn't care. The Dark Ace had already taken away one of my friends, there wasn't anything much worse that he could do to me now.

Bowing my head to hide the silent, hot tears that were beginning to track down my face, I heard the Dark Ace say, "It's such a shame she had to die, but now that there's nothing to tie you down to the Storm Hawks, you could always become a Talon. You could think of her death not as a bad thing, but the thing that opened your door of opportunity."

Shaking my head back and forth, I whispered, "No, I'd never join you."

"Well, I guess there's always the alternative..." The Dark Ace said mockingly before I heard the unmistakeable sound of a crystal powered weapon ignite.

As I found myself becoming resigned to my fate, I suddenly felt the dead cold of Piper's cheeks melt away into searing heat. Retracting my hand, I looked at Piper's face through my tear filled eyes only to see her Amplifying Stone shine vibrantly before her eyes flew open, revealing the amber colour I knew all too well.

Smiling with relief, I gathered Piper into my arms and hugged her tightly, not caring about my aching ribs. Breaking apart for a moment, I held Piper at arm's length only to see confusion adorning her features.

Before I could explain anything, I heard a clattering of metal come from behind me. Turning around, I could see that the Dark Ace's sword had slipped from his hand and was now lying in the dirt. The Dark Ace himself had a startled expression on his face, and was backing away from us slowly as I could hear him muttering, "No, it isn't possible! You were dead! You shouldn't be alive!"

Standing up slowly with one of my arms around Piper's shoulders to support her, I looked down at Piper, and smiled thankfully before I whispered in her ear, "I really thought I lost you back there."

Piper gave me a weak smile, and leaned into me more, and I could tell that any energy she had left was quickly fading.

My smile faded a bit as I turned my attention back to the Dark Ace when I heard him hiss, "No matter, I'll kill you _both_ now!"

Walking back towards us, the Dark Ace stooped down and picked up his sword from the dirt. Glaring at us with pure hatred in his eyes, the Dark Ace ignited his sword once more before he pointed it at as.

Holding Piper close, I was hoping to protect her even a bit from the blast that I knew would come. I was shocked though when I looked down into her eyes to see that they were changing colours. Seeing the light blue energy swirling within her eyes, the orange colour acting as the background, I slowly let Piper go as I saw another form of energy begin to mix in with the blue.

Satisfied that Piper was able to stand on her own, I took a small step away from her, and as I did, I whispered quietly to her so that the Dark Ace couldn't hear that I had said, "Good luck Piper."

Looking at me with anger, the Dark Ace hissed, "Don't think that just because you separated I'm only going to kill one of you."

Without a reply, I just smirked while still looking at the Dark Ace, as out of the corner of my eye, I saw an abundance of light blue to my left.

Sneering at me, the Dark ace questioned, "What are _you_ smiling at boy?!"

Again, I didn't give him a verbal reply, just a quick tip of my head to his right. Staring at me with confusion, the Dark Ace warily began to look to his right, only to have a dumbfounded expression on his face as he saw what Piper was doing.

"No!" The Dark Ace cried as he took a few steps back. "This isn't possible! Shape changers aren't supposed to be able to turn into an animal if they've sustained heavy damage to their body!"

I shut my eyes for a moment, and even with them closed, I could still imagine the bright flash of light before I opened my eyes again when I heard the Dark Ace mumble, "That darn light!"

Seeing the flabbergasted look on the Dark Ace's face, I turned to my left and was met with a sight I had seen a month or so ago when Piper and I had been escaping from Cyclonia – a blazing Phoenix with a light blue crystal hanging from its neck.

Our enemy's face was still frozen with shock from what he had just seen. Again, I heard him muttering, "This isn't possible! You should be dead right now, let alone living and as a phoenix no less!"

I stepped to the side a bit more as Piper began to rustle the large wings of the Phoenix she had turned into. I wasn't worried that Piper would hit me or anything; I was just surprised at the amount heat that was radiating from the flames that engulfed the bird.

Yes, this was probably my third or fourth encounter with a Phoenix, but whether that Phoenix had been Piper or not, I had never really been this close to one without it trying to kill me.

Turning to look at the Dark Ace, I saw that he had composed himself, and was now gripping the hilt of his sword so tightly that his knuckles were beginning to turn white.

Glancing at Piper, I heard her say to the Dark Ace, her voice clear as a bell, "As I told you before, you haven't quite figured out the whole puzzle yet."

Sneering at myself and Piper, the Dark Ace hissed, "I'll enjoy slicing you into pieces to find the missing ones!"

Holding his sword in his right hand, there was a small, barely noticeable flash of red light come from the mechanical device on the wrist of the Dark Ace's left hand. Jumping into the air, the red energy from his sword enveloped him as he back flipped, releasing a blast of crackling red energy hurtling towards Piper.

Before I even knew what was happening, Piper had raised her left wing to shield her face, and when the blast from the Dark Ace's sword hit, the energy was simply absorbed, making the flames of the Phoenix she had turned into even more intense.

Turning away from Piper, I saw that the Dark Ace was gaping slightly, but the surprised expression was quickly replaced with angered facial features. His mouth slowly turned into an annoyed frown as Piper told him, "I'm not sure how much you know about crystals, but I'm assuming you're using a firebolt crystal to power your weapon, no? Well, it's probably only fair to tell you that if you shoot a blast of energy from a crystal like yours at an already lit flame, it just gets bigger."

"Thanks for the lesson, I'll make sure to put it to use!" The Dark Ace sneered as he began to shoot at Piper repetitively.

After a good many shots from the Dark ace's sword, I was sure that the flames coming form the Phoenix were twice as intense as they were before, not only that, but glancing at Piper's eyes, I saw that a light blue colour was beginning to edge its way into her eyes.

_Oh no! She's going to shift back to her usual self soon... then she'll be an easy target because of all of her wounds! I need to think of a plan and quick!_

My eyes sweeping the area around the Cyclonian outpost quickly, I was at a loss of what I could possibly do before my eyes caught the late afternoon sun reflect off of something in the dirt that was beneath a nearby tree.

Checking that Piper was still okay, I saw that the amount of blue had grown a bit while I was searching for something that could help us out.

_Uh oh, I better hurry; she could switch back at any minute now!_

Without another thought, I dashed over to where I had seen the sun reflect off of something. When I reached the base of the tree, I bent down and gingerly picked up what turned out to be Piper's worn staff.

Sure, her staff had a few dents in it, and a couple of scrapes and scratches, but it still worked fine according to Piper. Now that I was holding it in my hand, I could tell that the weighting of the staff was still as good, if not better than some I've used before.

Looking in the compartment that she stored crystals in, I saw three crystals inside, one of them being a chroma crystal.

_So she had a chroma crystal with her after all... whoops. If she had just told me, we could have avoided that fight this morning._

Sighing, I looked at the next crystal that was an odd shape. I remembered Piper showing it to me a few months ago, she had called it a nimbus crystal. I couldn't quite remember what its uses were, so I moved onto the next crystal.

The final crystal was small and light blue in colour. I recognized it instantly as one of the crystals Piper had used a couple years back when we had to hunt down the Leviathan.

As I took the crystal out of the compartment, I turned around only to see that small blue wisps were beginning to form around Piper already, and the Dark Ace had let up on his barrage of energy blasts, as I saw a triumphant smirk begin to form on his lips.

Knowing I didn't have much time left, I slammed the small crystal into a slot on Piper's staff. Taking aim, I fired, and a bright blast of blue energy hurtled towards the Dark Ace and hit him square in the chest causing him to stumble backwards before he fell on the ground and became quite still.

Running towards Piper, I pressed the button on her staff that collapsed its size before I found the clip and attached it to my belt. Coming to a skidding stop, I got to Piper just before the clouds around her formed completely. Following the bright flash of light I was beginning to get accustomed to, a battle wounded Piper appeared when the clouds began to disperse.

Piper smiled at me, but as she took a step towards where I stood, it looked like her legs gave out on her. Lunging forward, I managed to catch her before she fell to the ground. As I gently sat down with Piper basically in my lap, I brushed away her bangs that had fallen into her eyes.

Smiling down at her, I whispered, "You did it Piper."

As she gave me a soft grin, her hand began to reach up to my face to return the favour when her hand began to shake uncontrollably. Grasping hers with one of mine, I held it tightly and said, "I think it's time we got you out of here."

Looking into Piper's eyes, I saw that there was still the odd flicker of blue in them. Standing up with an injured Piper in my arms, I glanced back at the Dark Ace to see that he was still motionless on the ground.

_Wow, those paralyzer crystals sure pack a punch. _

Turning my attention back to Piper, I looked down at her eyes just in time to see them fully return to their natural amber colour. I heard a groan come from the back of her throat before Piper blinked a few times, her eyelids heavy before she finally closed her eyes.

I wasn't sure if she was unconscious or just sleeping, but I wanted to find the others and get back to the Condor right away, as I could feel a wetness from her side beginning to slowly penetrate the fabric of my shirt. I didn't have to look down, as I already knew what it was, but I looked anyways.

I couldn't help but grimace as I turned my head away from the wound on her side that had only gotten worse thanks to her shifting into a Phoenix. I held Piper closer to me before I set off in a run towards the place where Junko, Radarr and I had agreed to meet once they had contacted the Condor, and I had found Piper.

* * *

**Well, I don't know about you guys, but I think this chapter had more action than the last one! But wow, I'm so evil, the Dark Ace - he _knows_..... O.O What will happen next????? **

**I suppose you'll all have to wait and find out ;)**

**_Crimson Fox4_**


	10. Deja Vu Much?

**Okay everyone, here's chapter nine for you all, I hope you enjoy, and this chapter starts out in Aerrow's Point of View.**

**I do not own the Storm Hawks, they are the property of Nerd Corps.**

* * *

Chapter 9

_Déjà Vu Much?_

Having met up with Junko and Radarr, we headed into the woods and walked for a good while before we came to the clearing where the Dark Ace had ditched our rides when he had captured us earlier on in the day, but it was almost dusk now.

Unlike earlier, the Condor had landed to the side of the clearing, our skimmers were gone, the only trace of them having being there at all were tire tracks heading towards the Condor where Finn and Stork were no doubt inside waiting for us.

Emerging from the bushes that bordered the clearing, I couldn't get the memory of what happened when I met up with Junko and Radarr out of my head. I didn't like being the only person who they could ask about what happened to Piper.

Looking down at my best friend who I still held in my arms, I frowned slightly as I remembered how concerned and worried I had made Junko and Radarr when I showed up with an injured and unconscious Piper.

_

* * *

_

Flashback

_Running around another corner of the many walls of the Cyclonian outpost, I came to a sliding stop, narrowly escaping a collision with Junko's hulking frame._

_Turning around to face me, I saw Junko's face light up with surprise and happiness before he saw the injured Piper in my arms. With his bottom lip trembling, Junko asked, "Is she, is she-"_

"_She's alive Junko." I replied quickly before I noticed that Radarr was sitting upon Junko's shoulders, both still looking worried despite my words. Sighing I added, "She's just really badly hurt, we need to get her somewhere safe." Looking up at my two friends, I asked, "Were you able to make contact with the Condor?"_

_With both Junko and Radarr nodding their heads yes in reply, Junko told me, "Yeah, we found a radio inside. Stork and Finn are waiting for us on the Condor in a clearing not far from here where the Dark Ace made us land, remember?"_

"_Yeah, I remember." I replied, my voice having an underlying anger towards the Dark Ace in it._

_Looking at me worriedly, Junko asked, "You're not hurt too, are you Aerrow?"_

_Having to smile a little at my friend's concern for me, I replied reassuringly, "I'm just fine Junko, don't worry about me."_

_**The only thing you should be worrying about is Piper... and that the Dark Ace knows her secret to some extent or the other now and you, one of her friends, don't....**_

_Sighing as I tried to ignore my thoughts, I said, "Lead the way Junko, we've all had a long day and I don't know about you, but I can't wait to get back to the Condor."_

_With a nod in reply, Junko began to lead the way with me following him with Piper still in my arms. _

* * *

Junko had asked several times on the trek back to the Condor if I wanted him to carry Piper for a bit, but I had always refused, telling him I could handle it, or there was no sense in him getting his uniform bloody too, and the list of excuses I had made went on and on.

I know it would've been much easier a trip for all of us if I had let Junko carry Piper, it's just I felt responsible for what happened to her. Sure, it was the Dark Ace who had injured her and everything, but I still had an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach knowing that she had only fought the Dark Ace to give myself and the others time to escape.

So, I decided to tough it out for Piper's sake - besides it wasn't like she was extremely heavy or anything.

Having finally reached the clearing where the Condor and the rest of our team was waiting for us, I was relieved, yet I still felt apprehension as to what the reactions from Finn and Stork would be when they saw the state that Piper was in.

As Junko came and stood beside where I was standing at the edge of the clearing, he said, "Aerrow, you okay?"

I shook my head, trying to focus myself on what I should be doing instead of daydreaming as I replied, "Yeah, I'm fine Junko." Looking up to see that Radarr was still atop Junko's shoulders, I gave him a slight nod of my head before he jumped onto my back for the first time since we were captured.

Seeing that the sun was dipping low in the sky, I hesitantly began to walk towards the Condor as I said, "Let's go home guys."

* * *

Finn's POV

Sitting on the bridge of the Condor, I began to drum my fingers on the table once more. Stork had long ago gone and gotten earplugs to try and ignore the 'annoying' sound I was making.

Was it really my fault that I was anxious for the others to get back? I mean, they were in a Cyclonian Outpost for goodness sakes!

We had received a transmission from Junko about three hours ago saying that they were out of their cells and that that Aerrow and Piper were running a distraction while he and Radarr found a way to contact us here on the ship.

Like I said before, that was _three_ hours ago, any number of things could have happened to them by now!

_Junko and Radarr could've been captured again, the Dark Ace could've hurt Aerrow and Piper, or worse he could've, he could've – _

I shook my head in an attempts to get the Stork like thought out of my head, but it turned out it only helped my thoughts from earlier on in the day come back to haunt me.

'_What have you done now Finn? Piper's going to kill herself trying to break into that outpost.'_

"No way, she's a Storm Hawk just like the rest of us, she'll be okay... right?" I mumbled out loud, fighting with the thoughts circling around inside my head. As soon as I realized I had been talking to myself, I felt kind of embarrassed, yet thankful Stork was wearing earplugs and hadn't heard what I said.

Letting a large sigh escape my mouth, I got up from the table and began to pace back and forth, back and forth until Stork yelled, "Finn, you're going to wear a hole through the floor!"

Turning to look at Stork, I saw that he was by the controls, sitting in a chair, reading a book - or at least trying to read it that is. Stork gave me an icy glare before he started to read his book again.

_How can he be reading at a time like this when our friends are in danger! We haven't heard from them in awhile, we might never see them again! What will Stork be reading then? Their wills, that's what!_

Shaking my head, I realized I was thinking doom oriented thoughts again.

_I bet Stork would be proud..._

Sighing once again, I quit my pacing and instead walked over to the windows for what must have been the hundredth time in the past few hours. Scanning the ground below the ship anxiously, I gave a whoop of joy when I saw two figures approaching the Condor - one with what I guessed was Radarr on their shoulder.

Running to the hangar bay to let down the ramp, I couldn't help but wonder why one of the two figures had both of their hands dangling to one side of them, and why there were only two outlines of people walking towards the Condor in the soon to be darkness when there should have been three.

* * *

Aerrow's POV

Nearing the ship, I was beginning to wonder how we'd be able to get on, but suddenly the hangar lights turned on, and moments later the ramp began to lower itself towards the ground.

Grinning at Junko and Radarr, I tried to pick up the pace a little. It would be good to be home again, and to have Piper's wounds properly looked after.

As soon as the ramp had touched down, Junko raced ahead, and soon I was able to see someone else besides Junko at the top of the ramp.

_I wonder if it's Finn or Stork..._

Pushing my thoughts aside, I paused at the bottom of the ramp to look down at Piper to check once again that she was really alive. Seeing that the rise and fall of her chest was still fairly regular, I began to make my way cautiously up to the Condor and to the people waiting for me, and the girl I held in my arms.

* * *

Finn's POV

Moments after the ramp had been fully extended I heard footfalls on the metallic material, causing me to race over to the edge of the deck only to be tackled by Junko in a tight bear hug.

Feeling a stop in my lungs, I managed to squeak, "Junko, I can't – breathe!"

Laughing nervously, Junko set me back down on the deck and patted me lightly on the back. "Sorry Finn," Junko began. "I'm just so happy to see you guys and the Condor, if it hadn't been for Piper, we might not have made it back here."

I nodded before I tried to peer around Junko as I heard lighter, much slower foot steps ascending the ramp. As the footsteps steadily got closer and closer to the top, I asked Junko, "How come you guys are only coming up one at a time?"

My large friend's face suddenly fell solemn as he mumbled, "Trust me, this is the last group of people coming up..."

"What do you mean?" I asked Junko as I hesitantly side stepped him, unsure as to if I wanted to know who hadn't made it back.

"Don't worry Finn, we're all okay, it's just..." Trailing off, Junko motioned towards the ramp and said, "You'll see what I mean, it's just kind of hard to explain since I don't really know what happened."

"Wait, something happened? What do you mean something happened?" I exclaimed as

I looked at my friend. Junko just shrugged in response before he mumbled, "Aerrow hasn't really said much since we left the outpost... I don't really know how to explain it to you."

I looked at Junko with confusion for another moment before I heard someone clear their throat from behind me. That's when I realized that I had turned my back towards the ramp and that the footsteps had stopped.

I felt myself absentmindedly swallow in apprehension of what I might come face to face with before I slowly turned around. What I saw struck fear into my heart as I took in the scene before me.

Aerrow was standing in front of me, not looking like himself at all. His eyes had lost their usual mischievous glint, and he wasn't grinning like he normally would after beating all odds and ending up home safe and sound on the Condor after a mission. Radarr's face mirrored that of Aerrow's.

My eyes shifting from their faces, I noticed that my friend's uniform was covered in dirt, and mingled with the dirt was... blood? That's when I saw what he was holding in his arms.

Looking into Aerrow's eyes, I asked, "Is she, is she -"

But before I could say anything else, Aerrow quickly interrupted me saying in a quiet, tired voice, "She's alive Finn. Barely, but she's alive."

I nodded solemnly as Aerrow walked past Junko and I into the Condor, more than likely headed for the infirmary. But when Aerrow walked past, I saw something I didn't want to see – the blood on his uniform wasn't his, it was Piper's, and worst of all, thanks to the floodlights outside the hangar, I could see that a streak on each of his cheeks was clean, while the rest of his face was dirty. It could only mean that Aerrow had been crying sometime since the last time I'd seen him.

_Oh man! This is so déjà vu like from last time Aerrow brought Piper back to the Condor unconscious, except this time, she's hurt – badly, and this time, this time Aerrow is, er, __**was**__crying! Aerrow __**never **__cries! What exactly happened here?_

Glancing at Junko worriedly, we both trailed after Aerrow slowly, still trying to piece together in our minds how Piper could've injured herself so badly.

* * *

**Hmmm.... what shall happen next? Chapter ten is being proofread, and chapter eleven is being typed!**

**By the way, if you haven't already checked out my important announcement on my profile, please make sure to do so, alright?**

**_Crimson Fox4_**


	11. Waiting

**Thank you for the reviews to my reviewers from the last chapter: Saerphe, SakariWolf, and Lady Snowstorm! I just figured I'd say that now since I haven't had much time to reply to reviews lately... hehe...**

**Well, this whole chapter is in Aerrow's Point of View, so enjoy! :)**

**I do not own the Storm Hawks, they are the property of Nerd Corps.**

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Chapter 10

_Waiting_

A few days had passed since Junko, Radarr, and I had returned to the Condor after being imprisoned by the Dark Ace in the Cyclonian outpost on Amazonia, yet Piper still wasn't showing any signs of waking up soon.

I had been spending as much time as I could in the infirmary with Piper the past few days, but it was hard to do since par usual, everyone on the team was required to take shifts watching our unconscious squad-mate until they woke up.

We had decided when we first came together as the Storm Hawks that should any of us be injured in battle we'd always have someone sitting next to them while they recovered for medical reasons of course, but also for some moral support.

For Piper though, the shifts took on a different purpose. By having someone by her bedside at all hours of the day - and night - we were assuring that someone would be there when she woke up.

Personally, I wasn't sure yet if I wanted to be the one watching her when she woke up. Don't get me wrong, I want to be there for sure, it's just that, my emotions have been close to overflowing and spilling out lately, and I know Piper's causing it to one degree or another. I don't know for sure yet because these feelings… I haven't really experienced them before.

A Sky Knight isn't supposed to show weakness or an excess of emotions, especially to their squadron, but by the look of sympathy Finn had given me when he came to me on the night of our return to the Condor, I knew that he had seen someway or another the weakened state I was afraid of finding myself in.

--

Flashback

Sitting next to Piper who lay unusually still on the white, lumpy cot in the infirmary, I forced my hand to let go of hers as I heard the door to the room swish open behind me.

I felt my hand slip off of the edge of the cot before it came to rest limply on my lap. I heard footfalls come close to where I was sitting before a familiar voice said to me quietly, "Aerrow, I – I'll take my shift now if you want."

Turning around to see Junko looking at me kindly with his grey eyes, I nodded my head as I reluctantly stood up from the chair I had been sitting in.

Getting up, I turned to the side so Junko wouldn't be able to see what I was about to do. As I began to walk towards the exit of the infirmary I purposefully brushed my hand against Piper's once more before I gave a tired, yet curt nod to Junko as I left the room, unable to find any words to say to my kind-hearted friend.

Stepping onto the bridge, I looked out the large glass windows to see that it was pitch black out, the storm clouds blocking the light of the moon and stars. I sighed as I walked off of the bridge and towards my bedroom while I absent-mindedly rubbed my chest; my ribs were still hurting from when the Dark Ace had kicked me despite Stork's treatment.

As I stumbled down the dimly lit hallway, I couldn't help but notice the light that was pouring out from underneath my bedroom door. It was really quite odd because I had sent Radarr to bed what felt like hours ago, and I figured he'd be asleep by now.

Standing in front of my bedroom, I pushed the button to the side of the doorframe that immediately granted me access to my room.

Stepping inside, I shut the door, and almost jumped out of my skin when I turned around to see that Finn was leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the door as I was.

As I willed my heart to slow its pace a little, I couldn't help but notice the look Finn was currently giving me. It was filled with sadness and confusion, but most importantly, there was something else there – pity and sympathy.

Having finally returned my heart rate to an almost normal pace, I turned around and sat on my bed where Radarr was still sitting up, wide awake. Looking up at Finn, I saw that he had moved away from the wall and was now taking the chair from my desk and setting it in front of my bed.

Turning it around so that the back of the chair was facing me, Finn plunked himself down into the chair backwards, his arms folded on the top of the backrest so that he could rest his head on his hands.

Looking at the sharpshooter with one of my eyebrows raised, I asked, "Why exactly are you in my room Finn?"

Finn shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly as he said, "I have every reason to be."

Still not quite getting what he meant, I asked, "What do you mean Finn?"

"I mean, I want to know what happened back there at the outpost."

"I already told you guys during the debriefing while we were all in the infirmary once we got back a few hours ago."

"Oh, riiiiight." Finn replied, rolling his eyes - obviously being sarcastic before he sobered a bit and told me, "Aerrow, we already knew that you, Junko and Radarr had been captured, and not long after that Piper went to get you. Then she found you."

"That's the short version Finn." I replied, trying to guess as to what Finn could be getting at.

Probing my eyes with his blue ones, Finn questioned, "What's the long version Aerrow? What _really_ happened to you, and especially to Piper, that made you both come back all beaten up?"

Breaking eye-contact with Finn, I looked down at the floor for a moment wondering how I'd be able to tell Finn _everything_that happened when a whole lot of it I guessed had to do with Piper's abilities.

Obviously not satisfied with my silence, Finn asked, "Dude, I don't know what happened back there, but I know that whatever happened, it, it-" I looked up from the floor when Finn began to stumble, but he felt my eyes on him as he quickly looked away before he finished in a whisper, "Aerrow, when you showed up on the Condor earlier tonight with Piper in your arms, when you walked by me, I saw, I saw that you'd been crying..."

I took in a sharp intake of breath as I remembered what had brought me to tears this afternoon. Blinking back the tears that were threatening to come at the memory of Piper's cold, motionless body, I rested my head in my hands, trying to hide my face from my friend as my emotions threatened to spill over once more.

I knew that Piper was alive now, but even just remembering what happened brought me to the verge of tears, the memory was just too fresh.

Hearing the scraping noise coming from the chair Finn was sitting in, I looked up from my hands to see him staring down at me with worry written on his face, but his expression soon turned to one of surprise as he saw a single tear begin roll down my cheek.

Blinking several times so that I could see Finn clearly I whispered solemnly, "Finn, you, you don't want to know. It's bad enough remembering what happened - that is - what _almost_ happened."

Finn shook his head slowly from side to side before he sat down next to me on my bed for a moment. Placing one of his hands on my shoulder in a friendly manner he said, "Aerrow, I – I really want to know what happened. Dude, I get it if you don't want to tell me, but keeping it bottled up inside won't do you any good."

It was now my turn to shake my head 'no' in reply as I replied hoarsely, "Finn, it's not that I want to keep things bottled up inside, but a Sky Knight isn't supposed to show weakness, especially to the members of their squadron."

As I began to stare at the ground in front of me, there was a moment of silence before Finn sighed and got up from his spot beside me, causing me to look up at him. Looking down at me again his eyes searching mine as though he was trying to read my mind, Finn said quietly, "Well I on the other hand think that not showing your weaknesses to your squadron is one thing, but dude, we aren't just your squadron Aerrow, we're your friends."

I tried hard to process what Finn had just said as he began to walk away from where I was, and instead towards the door.

The grim line that had been my mouth melted into a frown as stood up from my bed and called out quietly, "Finn, wait."

"Yeah?" Finn replied as he paused by the door to my room, his hand poised over the button that would open it.

Rubbing the back of my head in apprehension of what I was about to do, I said quietly, "After Piper came and found me once she had infiltrated the outpost, she was about to get me out of my cell when the Dark Ace found her." Pausing for a moment, I tried to gauge my friend's reaction, but it was near to impossible when his back was still facing me.

_I know I'm not totally lying to Finn by leaving out the details that include Piper's abilities, but I still feel sort of bad... _

Letting out a sigh, I continued saying, "Before the Dark Ace and some Talons took her away, Piper managed to slip me the key, as she had already unlocked Junko and Radarr's cell, and they were just waiting for the right time to escape." I stopped for a moment, trying to see if Finn was still listening or interested in my story.

After another moment of silence, Finn turned around with his shoulders slumped and asked, "Is that when she got injured?"

"No." I whispered as I sat back down on my bed, Radarr nuzzling my hand. Smiling at my furry blue companion, I gave the fur atop his head a quick pat before I looked up at Finn and motioned towards the chair that was still in front of me as I said, "The story only gets longer from here on out Finn, so you may as well sit down."

Finn looked at me for a moment before he walked over to the chair and sat down as I said, "Maybe half an hour after the Dark Ace had captured her, Piper showed up in front of my cell again just as I got the door opened. It turns out that she had somehow managed to escape the Dark Ace, though she didn't tell me a lot."

Finn nodded as I continued, "Piper being Piper and all, she had come up with a plan. She was going to go outside and wait for the Dark Ace to find her, and if need be, fight him until she knew we had gotten out of there safe."

Swallowing the lump that began to rise in my throat, I pressed on in trying to tell Finn what had happened. "After that, the Dark Ace showed up at my cell trying to figure out where Piper had gone, and eventually he ended up racing outside. As soon as he was out of sight, I got out of my cell and ran to find the others. Once we had all gotten out, we decided on a place to meet after I had gotten Piper and they had contacted you guys here on the Condor."

"So," Finn paused before he asked, "You _weren't _with Piper when she got hurt?"

With a sigh, I replied, "Yes and no Finn, yes and no."

Finn raised an eyebrow in confusion before I continued, "When I finally found Piper, the Dark Ace was about to hit her with his sword, so I shot a bolt of energy at him. Once he was away from Piper, I ran over to her and she was pretty much unconscious then. That was when I noticed that wound on her side…"

Urging the lump in my throat not to grow anymore, I pushed on, saying, "I felt so responsible for her getting hurt, and I didn't want to think about what could've happened to her if I hadn't come along, and I would've gotten her out of there then and there if it hadn't been for the Dark Ace beginning to battle with me."

Frowning, Finn asked, "So, just to clear things up, you _weren't_there when the Dark Ace gave Piper that ugly wound?" Shaking my head no in reply, Finn asked, "Then why were you crying man? I mean, yeah he hurt her and everything, but she's still alive, she's going to be okay!"

I began to shake my head again as I whispered, "Finn, that's not the end of the story." Looking up at my friend, I said remorsefully, "The Dark Ace managed to get in another shot at Piper..."

I trailed off before Finn interjected in a whisper, "No way..." I nodded my head slowly, trying to keep the tears at bay as I already knew what part of the nightmare came next. Looking at the floor, I heard Finn ask, "So, what happened? How did the Dark Ace get another shot at Piper with you there? I know you'd protect any of us with your life."

"I would Finn, you know that. It's just that I had the upper hand after the battle with the Dark Ace. He was on the edge of the terra with no where else to go, so I looked over my shoulder to check if Piper was still okay." Looking up at Finn, I told him, "It was a stupid mistake Finn; even at the academy they told us to never take our eyes off of the enemy no matter what! What in the Atmos was I thinking?!"

Finn studied me for a moment before he told me, "You were looking out for a friend Aerrow, and no one could fault you for that dude, not even Piper."

I looked at Finn for a moment before I turned my head away from his once more before I whispered, "But it was because I looked away the Dark Ace was able to kick me in the chest and pin me to the ground. Then, just to prove to me how my foolish action of checking on her during battle was, he, he-"

"He… what?"

Turning my head downwards as I looked at the floor in hopes that my unruly hair might conceal my face, I whispered, "He shot her in the back Finn."

There was silence for a few moments before I heard my friend reply in a whisper, "Dude… no way!"

Pushing down my emotions as best I could, I looked up at my friend, and with a nod, I told him, "He shot her in the back Finn, and that's when I began thinking I had lost her..." Trailing off, I looked over at Radarr before I turned to the blond sharpshooter sitting in front of me before I continued. "I managed to get away from the Dark Ace to go and check on Piper… I swear, when I touched her, she was ice cold – deathly cold."

Finn blinked a few times before he asked, "But, what happened after that? I mean, Piper's alive now, but… what was wrong there?"

"I – I really don't know…." I mumbled, trying to think of how to explain the next bit of the story to Finn.

_It's the truth… I really don't know why Piper was so cold if she was still alive – or if her Amp Stone had anything to do with it...._

Stumbling through the rest of the story, I told him, "All I know is that somehow she woke up just as I was losing hope, and then I was able to get the Dark Ace off our backs long enough for us to escape using one of Piper's paralyzer crystals. She sort of passed out again just as we were escaping..."

Running a hand through my hair, I awaited for an outburst from Finn, but nothing came. Looking up at my friend, I saw that he was regarding me with the same look as before - sadness, pity and sympathy – the only difference from before is that he wasn't confused as to what had happened anymore.

Curious as to why Finn was giving me the look he was, I asked, "Finn… what's the matter?"

Shaking himself free from his stupor, he replied quickly, "Nothing!"

Raising an eyebrow, I asked, "Really? Then why were you staring at me so hard? It was like you were trying to read my mind or something..." My sentence trailing off once more, a thought crossed my mind as I added, "Were you?"

"Sometimes I honestly wish I _could_read your mind and everyone else's Aerrow, but... I don't know – I was just trying to figure out if I should say what I was thinking or not." Finn replied, looking kind of sheepish.

Chuckling, I voiced my thoughts, saying, "You? Thinking about what you're going to say before you do? Piper would never believe it if we told her."

Finn gave me a half smile in reply before he looked me straight in the eyes and asked out of the blue, "You like her... don't you?"

My feelings of amusement suddenly gone, I stared at Finn, my mouth agape, trying to figure out if he had really just said what I thought he did. Finally realizing that I wasn't hearing things, I glanced at Radarr who was nodding his head slowly, as if he already knew the answer.

Rolling my eyes as I looked away from my co-pilot, I turned to the blond in front of me and asked him, "Why do you ask?" In order to try and avoid his fairly straightforward question for as long as I could.

_Well… do I like Piper? I think I might… and if I do, could that explain all of these new emotions I've been feeling lately? Or why I've become so protective of her? Or am I just feeling anxiety from having to keep her secret? But then again, if I do like her, it may explain about what happened in the cavern beneath the waterfall a month or so ago...._

I managed to push away my thoughts as I heard Finn begin to speak, "I don't know Aerrow, it's just a hunch I have I guess. I mean, I know you don't want any of us to get hurt, but when we do, you're always worried the most about Piper. I don't know if it's because she's the only girl on the team or what, but... do you get what I mean?"

Finn looked up at me, and I looked away quickly, trying to sort out my jumbled up thoughts and feelings before I replied, "I – I don't know Finn. I really just **don't** know...."

I rubbed the back of my neck as I trailed off before I realized I was on the brink of telling Finn whether I liked Piper or not, and that could cause a whole lot of problems once Piper woke up. I mean, if I thought the incident in the hangar before our recon mission was bad, it would be worse if Finn ever told her my answer once she came to.

Finally making my decision, I decided to try and change the subject.

With a shrug of my shoulders, I questioned Finn, "Don't you think it's getting a little late?"

Looking at the clock on my desk, Finn also shrugged as he replied, "I guess so, but we have to finish this talk sometime, okay?"

"Maybe…" I gave as my mumbled reply before Finn got up and headed towards my door.

Pausing as he was about to walk out the door, Finn turned around and said to me, "You've got to remember Aerrow, your not just the Sky Knight of the Storm Hawks, you're also our friend – you don't have to always hide your feelings from us, especially at times like this."

Nodding at Finn's words, Finn walked into the hallway and just before he was gone, I called out, "Hey! Finn!"

Peering around the side of my door, Finn replied, "Yeah?"

Smirking I asked, "Since when did you become so serious?"

It was then Finn's turn to smirk as he answered, "Don't worry, it'll pass as soon as Piper wakes up, I'll be able to pull my usual pranks on her then. That should help for sure!" Shaking my head in amusement at my friend's words, Finn added quickly, "Well, goodnight Aerrow!" Before his head disappeared and his footsteps were heard heading towards his room.

"Goodnight Finn!" I called out, all the while inwardly laughing at how Finn could seem so serious at one point, and then the next be his usual troublemaking self.

--

Now I'm always afraid that one day Finn will choose to ask me if I like Piper again when I still don't know the answer for sure yet. It'll be an interesting conversation, that's for sure.

That seems to be one of the many things I think about when I'm watching Piper during my shift from after supper to midnight. Also, I often go with Radarr for his shift from after breakfast until lunchtime. Like I said, I've been trying to spend as much time with her as possible.

Ever since I first brought Piper back to the Condor unconscious I think everyone else on the Condor has asking the same question as I have.

How much longer are we going to have to play the waiting game?

* * *

**So, yeah... what did you guys think? Make sure to let me know! :D**

**By the way, Chapter 11 is being edited, and chapter 12 is in the works! **

**_Crimson Fox4_**


	12. Unnecessary Risks, or a Required Duty?

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I really appreciate it, and I'm sorry that I haven't really been able to send review replies like usual! :(**

**But anyways, I'd just like to give you the heads up now that this chapter is rather long, so just hang in there... and most importantly, enjoy it! Well, I'm thinking this should be the last really long chapter left in this story. Alright! This chapter starts out in Piper's Point of View by the way.**

**(Oh, and I'd just like to put this out there now - I am NOT a doctor, so if anything is wrong in this chapter regarding medical info - sorry in advance!)**

**I do not own the Storm Hawks, they are the property of Nerd Corps.**

* * *

Chapter 11

_Unnecessary Risks, or a Required Duty?_

"She's been out for more than a week you guys." I heard a foggy voice flit through my ears before it was replaced with another.

"It's been ten days actually...." I heard a voice mumble that sounded further away from the other I had just heard.

"So! It's Piper, she'll pull through! I mean, she can't stay unconscious much longer, can she?" An almost optimistic voice asked.

_Wait, they're talking about me? Why can't I open my eyes?_

A pessimistic message was relayed next, "Piper's not unconscious Finn, she's in a coma."

_Finn? Are the voices I'm hearing the guys? And what do they mean I'm in a coma? What happened to me?!_

Trying to listen more closely, I could soon decipher which voice was who's as the not so cheery conversation continued after a moment of silence.

"You, you think she's in a coma Stork?" Junko asked, I could almost imagine how big and watery Junko's eyes were from the tone of his voice.

I heard a small whine in the background that I suspected came from Radarr before Stork continued, "She's not in a severe coma or anything, I know you guys have told me that she's blinked her eyes or her fingers have twitched here and there over the past week or so."

"So you're saying she'll wake up soon?" Junko asked, the hope in his voice evident.

"Well," I heard Stork say before he paused, probably to try and give himself more time to come up with an answer before he added, "I don't know _when_ exactly she'll wake up, I'm thinking a week at the most, but then again it could end up being a month…"

As Stork trailed off, silence once again filled the break in their conversation, and I couldn't help but want to yell out to them that I was awake, that I could hear them! But I couldn't even get my eyelids to open, why should I even try to talk?

"Stork," I heard as Junko finally broke the silence. "Why does Piper have a tube running into her arm?"

"It's an IV, it makes sure she gets all the fluids and nutrients she needs while she's still unconscious. Which reminds me..." Stork trailed off before he added quietly, "If she doesn't wake up in a few days and you guys ever think she's starting to have problems breathing, make sure to let me know, alright?"

I heard a few murmurs of 'okay' before my team-mates' replies were replaced with the shuffling of feet and the sounds of a door opening and shutting.

_So I've been in a comma of sorts for somewhere in around the past week and a half? I still want to know how that all came about...._

As my thoughts trailed off and the silence around me was threatening to swallow me up once more, I heard some muffled voices before I heard the door open again and someone's footsteps echo against the walls of the room I must have been in as their feet hit the metal floor.

_If there is a metal floor in this room, I must be on the Condor still, or at least, I hope so...._

As the door swished closed, I heard the feet of a chair scrape against the floor before someone sat down in it with a sigh. I couldn't quite tell who it was though, as usually I don't pay all that much attention to the difference in all of my squad-mates' sighs.

I heard another sigh before the room I was in became silent except for the person's breathing. Their breathing wasn't normal though, it sounded ragged as though they were fighting to hold back their tears or something.

_But why would any of the guys cry over me? They couldn't have given up on me already, could they? Why can't I just wake up!_

I continued to listen to the person's breathing before I felt something wet fall onto my hand.

_Okay, so I can hear things and feel things, why can't I just wake up?! _

I was beginning to feel frustrated until I heard someone whisper, "Piper, why won't you wake up?" That's when I realized the person who had come back into the room - the person who had let a teardrop fall on my hand - they were someone I knew well.

_Aerrow? _

"Piper, I – er, all of us need you to wake up, life here on the Condor isn't quite the same without you up and walking..." I heard Aerrow trail off before with another small sigh, he continued, "I know you can't hear me Piper, but I'm sorry about they way I acted before the recon mission."

There was another pause of silence, and I was beginning to wonder if that was all Aerrow wanted to say to me when he began to talk once more. "I didn't mean to get so mad at you about the chroma crystal thing; I know you don't really need them anymore, it's just, well... never mind, it's not really important I guess."

I heard the chair Aerrow was sitting in squeak as he fidgeted a little before he whispered, "I'm sorry I yelled at you for not telling the others yet, I know you'll tell them when you're ready, it's just it's becoming really hard lately not to let anyone clue in, especially when Finn asked me point blank what happened when we were fighting the Dark Ace back at the Cyclonian Outpost."

_Oh no, I hope he didn't tell Finn!_

I held my breath, hoping my secret hadn't been exposed to anyone else besides Aerrow, before I heard him say, "I found a round about way of telling him what happened, but I can't say I was too proud about it, but it's your decision whether you tell the guys or not, so I suppose I'll learn to accept that eventually. I just don't like keeping secrets from the crew, you know?"

_Wow... have I really been making Aerrow's conscience this troubled by making him keep my secret?_

I really wanted to find someway to wake myself up and just be able to talk to Aerrow and tell him I was sorry too, but unfortunately I couldn't, so I decided to just wait and see if he had anything else to say.

"Piper, I – I know as the Amazonian Guardian you're required to protect Amazonia and all, but should that duty require you to almost get killed by the Dark Ace? I, I …" Aerrow's voice trailed off for a moment until I heard him sigh again before he continued.

"I just don't want you to get hurt Piper. I know you don't really need me to protect you anymore, but I almost feel like I should be protecting you more than ever despite you being perfectly capable of accomplishing that by yourself. It's just that… I get so worried when you take unnecessary risks, especially when they involve a chance of me losing you…. I guess I'm not one to talk since I take risks all the time, it's just-"

There was silence once more in the room save for Aerrow's breathing, but then he stuttered out quietly, "It's just, I think… I think I'm, I think I'm, I'm-" But whatever Aerrow was going to say to me was interrupted when body finally co-operated and my finger twitched, and I felt it bump against something warm and soft that I figured was Aerrow's arm.

I heard a small and surprised gasp as Aerrow stammered, "P - Piper?" Before I felt a spark of heat touch my cool hand, causing my eyelids to flutter before they closed once more due to the harsh light.

I moaned at the pain the bright light had caused my eyes, even if only a split second of exposure was all that had caused it. "Piper?" I heard Aerrow question hopefully before I felt a warmth engulf my entire hand.

Gripping what felt to be Aerrow's hand, I slowly opened my eyes, blinking a few times to try and get adjusted to the harsh lighting before I kept them open and tried to look around the room which I soon recognized as the infirmary on the Condor.

_At least I'm still on the Condor and they didn't take me to a hospital or anything like that._

Blinking a few more times, I still felt disoriented for a moment until I felt something brush against my forehead, pushing my bangs to the side, letting me see that it was indeed Aerrow who was sitting next to my cot.

Looking up at my long-time friend, I could see the relief in Aerrow's eyes as I croaked, "Hi."

Letting a small smile grace his lips, Aerrow whispered back, "Hey, how're you feeling?"

"I guess I've been better, you know?" I replied truthfully.

Aerrow frowned slightly at this, as he let go of my hand and placed his on my head only to retract it quickly as he muttered, "You're burning up Piper…."

"So?"

"I don't think it's good that you have a fever..."

"I doubt I'll die from it Aerrow, don't worry about it." Aerrow's eyes immediately darkened after I mentioned death – my death.

"Don't talk about dieing Piper..." Aerrow trailed off as he turned away from me.

Trying to figure out why what I said had upset Aerrow so much, I brushed my hand against his, causing him to look down at me. "What's wrong Aerrow? What did I say?" I asked, confused as to why my friend was acting like this.

Aerrow sighed before he hesitantly rolled up the bottom of my shirt a bit to reveal a bandage that was wrapped around my stomach, and if I wasn't mistaken, there was a bit of dried up blood on it.

_So __**that's**__ why my side hurts so much...._

I wasn't able to think of anything to say, so Aerrow soon whispered, "You've been unconscious for ten days now Piper… and it was ten days ago that for a few moments I could've sworn you were dead. I, I'm still not totally sure how you _are_ still alive after all the blood you lost…."

Eyeing the blood that was beginning to slowly seep through the bandage again, I asked, "W-what happened to me?"

Raising an eyebrow in reply to my question, Aerrow asked, "Don't you remember how you injured yourself?"

Shaking my head no, I told Aerrow, "The last thing I can remember is I had to fight the Dark Ace for one reason or another..." I slowly trailed off as waves of memories began to hit me; the recon, the fight with Finn, the outpost, finding the others, getting captured, escaping, running outside, battling, the wound on my side. I grimaced at the memory, but soon others were replacing it; the Dark Ace's lecture, me turning into a panther before his eyes, him besting me once more, and then a blast of green blue energy hit him.

After that, the memories were pretty foggy, but I remembered that somewhere in there Aerrow showed up, and that I had shifted into a phoenix for one reason or another.

Closing my eyes, I tried to control my thoughts and emotions, but despite my need for self-control, a single tear managed to escape my closed eyes and begin the slow trek down my cheek.

_I would've been dead if Aerrow hadn't come along... I was so stupid to face the Dark Ace by myself! But what other choice did I have? I had to give the others time to escape, and it's my required and expected duty as the Amazonian Guardian to protect Amazonia._

"Piper? Are you alright?" I heard Aerrow ask before I felt his fingers gently wipe the tear off of my face.

A moment or two afterwards, I opened up my eyes once more to see Aerrow's green ones look down at me with worry. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I whispered, "You saved me, didn't you?"

Rubbing the back of his neck as he sat back down on the chair next to the bed I was in, Aerrow replied, "I don't know if I'd call it saving you or not, the Dark Ace was able to pin me down for a bit, and then shot you in the back to try and prove something to me."

I slowly nodded my head up and down, not sure what I could say that would let my friend know that I was going to be fine, and that I didn't blame him for what the Dark Ace did to me, but I didn't know how I could do that when blood was continuing to seep through the bandage that was wrapped around my stomach.

Running a hand through his hair before it joined the other in his lap, Aerrow looked up at me and asked, "So, you're okay for the moment besides this gash in you side?"

Trying to think of a way to cheer Aerrow up, and let him know that I was fine, I began to wiggle my toes, and open and close my hands before I told him, "Everything is still attached and works, so I think the answer is a yes."

Giving me a weak grin, Aerrow replied, "Well, that's good." I was about to award myself a small victory for getting my Sky Knight to grin a little when I noticed that he was frowning again as he looked at the growing red stain that contrasted so starkly with the white of the bandage.

Sighing as he got up from his seat and walked over to a cupboard on the wall, Aerrow said, "We may as well change that bandage you know… you've sort of had it on all day."

As he opened the cupboard and began to rummage through it, I asked, "All day? What time is it?"

Glancing over at me quickly before he returned to looking through the cupboard, Aerrow replied, "Everyone else just went off to bed a bit before you woke up."

"Oh." I said to myself quietly, a little sad that I wouldn't see any of the others until the morning.

Almost as if he knew what I had been thinking, Aerrow informed me, "You'll get to see everyone before morning, don't worry."

"How do you figure?"

As he closed the door and began to walk towards me with a few medical supplies in hand, Aerrow replied, "Junko's shift starts in around midnight, so you can be sure that as soon as he sees that you're awake, everyone else will know too."

Chuckling a little, I replied, "I suppose that _is_ true...."

Nodding his head in agreement, Aerrow laid out a roll of bandages, a pair of scissors, and some anti-bacterial ointment on the edge of the bed before he asked, "Do you think you'll be able to do this yourself?"

"I, I don't know... maybe?" I replied as I began little by little to try and sit up before I asked, "Who's been changing the bandage while I was out of it anyways?"

I could've sworn I saw the tips of Aerrow's ears turn a little red after I had asked the question, and I was beginning to wonder why before he replied, "I suppose I've been … Radarr has been helping me during the shift we share in the morning though."

"Oh." I replied just before I felt a stab of pain in my side as I finally managed to sit up and let my legs dangle over the side of the bed. Aerrow must have seen my pained face as he gently sat down beside me and placed a hand on my back to support me.

Looking at me concernedly, Aerrow asked once more, "Are you okay Piper?"

Taking a few deep breaths, the pain slowly faded away until it was just a dull throb. To answer Aerrow's question, I just gave a curt nod, avoiding talking as I was already using up a lot of my concentration to ignore the pain that was left, and the onslaught of dizziness that I was suddenly feeling.

I could see Aerrow frown before he asked again, "Are you sure you're alright Piper? I mean, your arms are shaking..." As Aerrow trailed off, I looked down at my arms that were helping to support me, and I noticed that they were indeed shaking a fair amount.

No matter how much I wanted them to stop, they wouldn't, which caused Aerrow to ask a question whose answer I knew, just wasn't completely comfortable with.

"Piper, you just woke up, how about you let me switch your bandage real quick and then you can go back to sleep and rest."

I knew Aerrow was right that I needed to get some rest, but what I found so strange was that I had been asleep for over a week, and I felt tired of all things. But the part of his question I was feeling slightly apprehensive of was him changing my bandage.

_I know that he and maybe even some of the other guys may have been switching it when I was out of it, but now that I'm awake, this can only prove to be awkward._

As I continued to mull and turn my thoughts over in my head, I realized that the only way I could get my bandage switched would be if Aerrow did it, as I wasn't really capable of doing it myself at the moment. I even entertained the thought for an instant that I could just switch it later, but that's when I looked down to see that the red stain in the old bandages had only grown since I sat up.

Sighing inwardly, I told Aerrow, "Yeah, sure. That sounds like a good plan I guess."

Nodding his head, Aerrow slipped one of his arms beneath my knees, and his other arm gingerly slipped around my waist. Raising an eyebrow, I looked up at Aerrow, and once he saw what I was doing, I saw his ears turn red once more as he said simply, "With you as tired as you are, it might be easiest if you were leaning against the wall or something, I can't help support you and switch the bandage at the same time you know."

As Aerrow was talking, his breath had been tickling my ear, and turning my face away from his as I felt my cheeks begin to burn from his closeness, I nodded my head up and down quickly, and I soon felt myself being lifted into the air slightly before the cool metal wall touched my back.

Looking up at Aerrow, I gave him a small smile in thanks.

Picking up the pair of scissors, Aerrow told me, "You've got to stay still while I cut through the fabric, and please don't freak out too much once I take the bandages off, okay?"

Glancing at Aerrow as he began to slowly cut through the white material, I asked, "Why would I freak out? I mean, it's just a normal everyday wound, right?"

"Define a normal wound for me, and I doubt this is one would qualify..." Aerrow murmured as he cut through the last of the white, now red fabric before he gently pulled it off.

Wincing as the air met the gash on my stomach, I looked down for a second before turning my gaze away, not sure I wanted to look back, but I did. It appeared pretty bad, but it seemed to be healing, although slowly at that. The guys had done well making sure it didn't get infected or anything, but it still appeared like it was in pretty rough shape.

As I began to inspect it further though, I was surprised to see that the area around the wound had begun to glow a soft blue. I quickly looked up at my friend who was still sitting next to me as I stuttered, "A-Aerrow? W-why is it glowing?"

Oddly enough, he didn't seem too freaked out about it and replied simply, "It's been doing that lately whenever Radarr and I have changed your bandages..." As he trailed off for a moment while he ran his hand through his unruly hair, he added, "I haven't told or asked Stork about it yet though as it's kind of the same colour as your Amplifying Stone."

Nodding my head, I told Aerrow, "I've been meaning to show you something for awhile now, but I never really got to since we haven't really said much to each other for a month until today and while we were planning our recon mission…" I let my sentence trail off as I wasn't really all that sure what I should say next.

_Now is as good a time as ever to try and read that book since I never really got around to reading it anyways...._

Aerrow however didn't seem to have a problem filling up the silence as he began quietly, "I have a feeling I may know what you want to show me."

"And what's that?" I asked out of curiosity, wondering how he could possibly know.

Setting the pair of scissors down on the bed next to the clean roll of bandages, Aerrow walked across the room and tossed the old ones into the trash. Washing his hands in a small sink, he dried his hands by wiping them on his pants before he grabbed a familiar looking book that was sitting on one of the counters beneath the row of cupboards that circled the room.

As he began to walk back to where I was sitting against the wall, I asked, "Where did you find that Aerrow?"

"I sort of found it in your room…." Aerrow replied, looking rather sheepish.

"Oh…." I trailed off, wondering why Aerrow would have been in my room in the first place.

Obviously thinking the same thing, Aerrow quickly defended himself, saying, "Stork told me a week ago that instead of sitting around here with nothing to do I should find a book to read." Aerrow paused for a moment until he saw that my expression was beginning to show understanding, so he continued, "So since I don't have all that many books of my own, I figured you wouldn't mind if I went into your room to borrow one or two."

Aerrow searched my eyes for a moment until I couldn't help but crack a smile as I asked playfully, "You seriously wanted to read a book?"

My friend simply shrugged his shoulders as he replied, "It was either that or stare at you all the time."

I felt myself blush slightly at the idea before I mumbled, "Good choice...."

A slight feeling of awkwardness fell upon us as Aerrow absentmindedly rubbed the back of his neck before he told me, "Uh, before you show me whatever you wanted to that's in that book, we really ought to put your new bandage on, you know?"

All it took was one glance at the eerie blue glow about my wound before I replied promptly, "That'd be good." Aerrow nodded at my words, and I forced myself not to focus on him and his closeness as he cleaned the wound before he wrapped the new bandage around my stomach.

I couldn't help but jump when after he had wrapped the bandage around my stomach a few times, one of his fingers brushed against my bare skin. I'm pretty sure he noticed he had startled me as he murmured, "Sorry." After a few more layers of bandages were over top of my wound, Aerrow cut the fabric and tied the two ends together to secure it.

Backing away from me a bit, Aerrow asked, "Is it too tight? Or too loose? Or is it okay? Or-"

"Aerrow, it's fine." I interrupted his rant as I grinned at him to assure what I had said was true.

He just shook his head as he returned the scissors and bandages and such to their place in the cupboard before he came back and sat next to me on the bed. Taking the book from beside him on the bed, he handed it to me and said, "Sorry if I wasn't supposed to read this."

"It's – it's okay I think." I replied simply as I took the book from his hands. The book was old with age, but its soft leather cover was keeping the yellowing paper inside in good enough condition it seemed.

"What do you mean – you think it's okay that I read it? I mean, haven't you read it yourself?" When I shook my head no in response to his question, Aerrow once ran a hand through his hair as he exhaled loudly before he turned to me and said, "Sorry Piper, if I had known you hadn't read it yet, I would've chosen a different book."

I smiled inwardly. Sure I was glad that Aerrow was so concerned, but really I didn't think he had to be. I voiced my opinion by telling him, "It's alright, I didn't have enough time so it's my fault really."

"I'm still sorry."

"Don't be."

Aerrow glanced at me before he leaned against the wall and asked, "So you just wanted to show me the book in general?"

"I guess so..." I replied, not completely sure why I wanted to show it to him in the first place if I wasn't even sure of its contents yet.

Seeming to sense my dilemma - like he always had a knack for – Aerrow gently took the aging book from my hands as he asked, "Do you want me to show you something?"

"Like what?" I asked as I wiggled around a little trying to get a little bit more comfortable as I had just been able to locate the clock in the room, and there was still in around a little under an hour left until Junko arrived for his shift that started at midnight. Besides, I found that that tiredness I had been feeling earlier was suddenly catching up with me.

"Well," Aerrow began as he flipped through the book carefully so that he didn't damage the yellowing paper. "There's lots of different stuff in here, like the History of Amazonia and its people, but I'm sure you already know that. It also talks about the history of the Amazonian Guardian and the tradition of passing down the Amplifying Stone from one Guardian to the next, but again, you probably already know about that."

"Mhmm." I replied, trying to stifle a yawn.

_Why am I so darn tired?_

But Aerrow either didn't seem to notice my suppressed yawn, or decided to simply ignore it. All the same, he continued to give me a quick overview of the book as he continued to flip through each section.

"Then there's a part on how the role of the Guardian changed from generation to generation. Oh! And there's this one part…" Aerrow's voice trailed off in my mind as my eyelids finally slid closed. Soon my head began to nod until it found something slightly soft to lean on, and before I knew it, I was out like a light.

* * *

Aerrow's POV

"And there's this one part about why and when the Amp Stone activates and what it can do, and…" I trailed off as I looked up from the book as I felt Piper's head become heavy on my shoulder. Smirking to myself, I looked down at Piper who had fallen asleep as I whispered to myself, "Of course, even Piper can't last through a history lesson when she's tired."

Closing the book, I set it gently on the edge of the bed before I turned slowly to move Piper from her position leaning against the wall and my shoulder to having her lying down in her bed, something that would surely be more comfortable for her. Once I finally had turned her around and lowered her body towards the bed, and her head was on the pillow, I tensed up as she shifted in my arms slightly, but thankfully she didn't wake up.

Sighing to myself, I let go of Piper and got off of her bed as I picked up her book and set it down on the counter closest to her cot. Turning back towards my slumbering friend, I grabbed the blanket that was sitting at the bottom of the bed. I picked it up, unfolded it, and then once I was done shaking it out, I let it flutter down gracefully onto Piper's sleeping form. Reaching down, I pulled the blanket up to her chin before I sat back in my chair next to her.

Although she looked exactly the same as she had a week or more ago, I now knew that she wasn't unconscious, she was merely sleeping. I found myself grinning at how peaceful Piper looked until I snapped myself out of it.

Sighing to myself, I picked up the leather covered book from the counter beside me and flipped to the part of the book I was trying to understand the most. The history part of the book was easiest to read, but this stuff about the Amplifying Stone and how it worked and reacted to different things its owner was going through, it was plain confusing.

The reason why it was so confusing to me was that there were so many variables involved in each situation the book described would cause such and such of an effect if this or that happened. It wasn't amazingly helpful in me understanding Piper and her abilities, if anything, it was giving me more questions than answers, and it made me feel almost apprehensive about how I played a role in this.

The book kept mentioning friends, family, and loved ones. I knew that I was at least Piper's friend. Even though we were almost like family, I knew that we really weren't, and then that brought me back to the third group of people the book kept mentioning.

Loved ones.

I had always thought that 'loved ones' just referred to your family and friends, you know, the people close to you, but it seemed that according to this book's explanation there was someone else you could lump into that category – the Guardian's true love.

I closed the book with a sigh. Once again my raging and confusing thoughts were keeping me from reading any farther. Yes, I had read further, it just felt like the words weren't even registering in my head with all of my thoughts bouncing about in there.

Standing up, I set the book back down in its place on the counter. Turning around to face Piper, I leaned against the counter and with another sigh I ran one of my hands through my hair like I always did when I was confused or thoughtful, desperately trying to decipher my thoughts. I mean, why wouldn't I like Piper? Why wouldn't I want to be her true love, and she mine?

I mean, I _do_ like Piper, she has to be one of the most amazing friends I could hope to have, but it was just... I don't know. It must've been the word 'love' that was sending my head, and most importantly my heart in loops. I don't know why, but for me, the word just seemed to be so… _serious._

I groaned as I slid to the floor and sat with my head in my hands as I tried to think clearly.

_Why is one little question causing so many other questions to run through my head? And why is the thought of the answer to this question making my stomach churn?_

Sighing once more at all of the uncertainty I was feeling, I glanced at the clock and saw that there was only a couple of minutes until midnight, and unlike my feelings which were all over the place as of late, Junko had always shown up for his shift right on time.

Getting up from the floor, I tried to clear away my thoughts and compose myself before Junko came in. There had been a few times in the past week or so that Junko had shown up for his shift, taken one look at me, and had immediately asked me what was bothering me. I really didn't want to answer that question tonight. Besides, I needed to be able to tell him that Piper had woken up.

Glancing down at Piper, I found myself smiling again as I couldn't help but be glad that she had finally woken up and that it looked as though she was quite peaceful for the moment.

Walking over to her, I gingerly brushed her bangs away from her eyes like I had when she first woke up, but thankfully this time she didn't even stir. I just stared at Piper for a moment or two, enjoying how that by looking at her – asleep or not - my mind would usually just draw a blank and any troubling thoughts would just seem to disappear for a few minutes.

Acting on a sudden impulse, I had leaned down and kissed Piper gently on the forehead before I even knew what I was doing. I was about to berate myself for not being able to have control over my actions when I heard the door open behind me.

Backing away from Piper a little bit, I turned around to see Junko entering the infirmary, him yawning as quietly as you'd expect a Wallop to before he walked over to me and asked, "Hey Aerrow, how is she?"

Looking up at my kind-hearted friend, I replied, "I think she's doing better Junko. I changed her bandage so you don't have to worry about that, and she was actually awake for a little bit."

"She was?!?!?" Junko asked with delight. I could tell he wanted to go shake Piper to wake her up, to ask how she was feeling, so before he could do so I rested a gentle hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down, and most importantly to make him look at me.

Once Junko had looked down at me, I told him, "She's asleep now Junko, but I'll be back in the morning, and I'm sure she'll be awake then, okay?"

"Okay!" Junko exclaimed happily, sitting down in the chair across from Piper's bed as I headed towards the door. It was quite obvious he was delighted that his friend was finally waking up and feeling better.

Frankly, I felt the same way as I glanced back at Piper and saw her stir in her bed before she continued to sleep peacefully.

_See you in the morning Piper. Oh, and by the way – I'm really glad you're okay._

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**Hehe, poor confused little Sky Knight! x3**

**So, guess what? Chapters 12 through 15 are finished, and I'll be editing and posting one a night for the rest of the week. After that, I have chapter 16 to finish on the weekend if I have time, and then this story should be over, and so will be my time in general here on the site. Thanks again to everyone who's still sticking with me and with my stories until the end! :') Again, I really appreciate it.**

**I'll hopefully start replying to any of those PM's people have sent me sometime next week - probably after Wednesday would be the most likely.**

**_Crimson Fox4_**


	13. Revelations

**Again, Merci Beacoup for the reviews! :)**

**Alright, umm... THIS should be the last lengthy chapter. It's shorter than the last chapter by maybe a thousand words or so... hehe.... After this I think the chapters should be a little shorter except for maybe the final chapter as I haven't really finsihed it yet.**

**This chapter starts out in Piper's Point of View. Enjoy the update, chapter 13 should be coming at you tomorrow!**

**I do not own the Storm Hawks, they are the property of the Nerd Corps.**

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Chapter 12

_Revelations_

My eyes fluttered open groggily as rays of light crept in my window and along the walls as the sun rose in the Eastern horizon. I sat in my bed for a moment, staring at the ceiling when I remembered why this day was supposed to be so special, and why I was dreading it despite that fact.

Moaning as I flung my blankets off of me, I resisted the urge to wrap myself up in them again as the coolness of the air in my room attacked any of my bare skin. I quickly go out of my bed, but I soon found myself hopping from one foot to the other as I made my way to the washroom attached to my room, as I unfortunately, I had somehow forgotten how cold my room's metal floor was in the morning.

I quickly jumped into the shower to wake myself up before I forgot anything else important. I enjoyed the feeling of the warm water, but most importantly, I enjoyed the fact that my wound had fully healed a week or so ago and that it no longer stung when anything touched it – including water.

Once my hair had dried from my shower and I was dressed and ready for the day, I left my room, enjoying the fact that the guys weren't following me around anymore or asking all the time if I was okay or not. Mind you, Aerrow had still been asking me here and there if I was alright, but that was just Aerrow.

For about two weeks after I had woken up, Stork wouldn't even let me out of the infirmary. After that, the guys hadn't even let me out of their sights for almost an entire month! Yes, I was appreciative that they wanted to make sure I was okay and everything, but the guys had sort of gone to extremes really.

I was just glad that I was finally feeling better and that none of my squad-mates were breathing down my back anymore. Aerrow had even allowed me to go back to doing all of my chores last week compared to only doing my light chores as I had been ever since Stork let me out of the infirmary. I have to say though; Finn was pretty excited when he found out he didn't have to do half of my chores on top of his own anymore, but really, who would blame him?

It had taken a little over two months in total for my wound to heal completely, but Stork had seemed rather surprised as he thought that it should've taken longer. I had sort of thought it was healing pretty quickly too, but that was before I finally got around to reading the book that I suspected Arygyn had left for me a few months ago when he had shown up to give me the map with the clue on it so that I could find the cavern underneath the waterfall.

I had read the book over a couple times, yet I still wasn't quite sure about everything in it, but it was all good to know at some point or another I suppose. According to the book, there is a lot more to my abilities and to my Amplifying Stone than anyone will ever know. Which, when you think about, isn't all that encouraging when I've had close to no one to teach me about, or to pass on the knowledge they had gained.

Thankfully, I did find a part in it that explained what had been going with the large cut on my stomach that I had received from the Dark Ace, and why it had been glowing a light blue colour that was almost the exact same as my Amp Stone while it was healing.

It had said if the wound was one the Guardian had sustained in close combat with an enemy, the Amp Stone would some how speed up the healing process, but if the wound had been received from long distance, or if it was a wound that would heal by itself easily, the Stone would not intervene much or at all.

What I don't like about the ideas and patterns the Amp Stone around my neck has is that it almost seems to have a mind of its own, when really it doesn't. I mean, come on! Anyone who knows _anything_ about crystals at all knows that the wielder of the crystal can control it and its energy or effects so long as it isn't a highly unstable crystal. That's what bothers me the most about my Amplifying Stone – it seemed to break all of the rules.

As I continued down the hallway towards the bridge, Finn suddenly appeared out of nowhere as he said cheerily, "Good morning Piper!"

"Er, good morning Finn. Why are you up so early?" I asked, suspicious as to why he was up when I was. Usually I was the first person up and had free roam of the Condor for at least an hour or so. I had taken to setting my alarm years ago so that I could be up before the sun.

"Wait a second…" I muttered under my breath as things began to come together in my mind. Spinning around, I asked Finn, "What did you guys do to my alarm clock?"

Finn merely smirked before he wiggled his eyebrows as he replied, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Finn!" I yelled at the sharpshooter as he dashed off down an adjoining hallway.

Annoyed that he - or any of my other squad-mates - had messed around with my alarm, I bolted after him, eager to run as I hadn't been able to do that in a very long time. In fact, I was even keeping up with Finn, and I was really close to catching him when he dove into the kitchen, the door slamming shut behind him.

I simply grinned to myself however, as I approached the door to the kitchen. There was no other way out of the room except through the door, so even if Finn tried to escape, I could just wait here and catch him no matter what. However, I wasn't feeling quite like being patient with Finn today – I'd stoop down to his level. Just this once.

Entering the kitchen, I heard the door close behind me, and I was surprised at what I saw - which was nothing. All of the lights were turned off, and I couldn't see anything for the life of me as the blinds on the windows were shut fully, no beautiful rays of sunshine in this room!

I was beginning to wonder what in the Atmos was going on, but the lights in the room were suddenly turned on, and all of my team-mates sprang out of nowhere crying, "Happy birthday Piper!"

I was astonished to say the least, as I hadn't expected them to do much for my birthday, let alone try and surprise me! And surprise me they had, as while they looked at me expectantly to join them at the table; I just stood there, riveted to the floor.

Seeming to sense that maybe they really _had _surprised me, Aerrow walked over, and grabbed onto my arm and led me to the table to take my seat. I looked over at Aerrow who had sat down in the chair to my right, trying to figure out from him why they were making such a fuss about my birthday, especially since it was only the morning still.

Aerrow glanced around at the others at the table, before with a grin he looked up at me and asked, "So… what do you think?"

"Yeah, we all got up early for this!" Finn exclaimed from his seat.

Stork just stared at Finn as though he wanted to smack him upside the head while Junko smiled widely at me and said, "Radarr and I even made breakfast for you!"

I looked around the table at my five friends before I myself cracked a grin before I told them all, "Thanks guys, I rally appreciate it." Sitting down, I looked at the food Junko and Radarr had prepared, and thought about how they would've had to have planned this whole surprise breakfast and everything, so I added, "You guys really didn't have to though, I mean, it's just a birthday."

"But you're turning seventeen!" Junko called out from his seat across the table from me.

"Yeah... but Aerrow had his seventeenth birthday last month, how come we didn't have a big breakfast like this then?" I asked, trying to figure out why they had decided to make such a big deal out of my birthday.

"Well," Finn began with mischief in his eyes, "To start with, Aerrow didn't plan his own birthday bash, but he did however plan this one." I glanced to my right to see the tips of Aerrow's ears turn a little red, but I wasn't sure if it was from embarrassment or from anger at Finn, as Aerrow was glaring at the sharpshooter as he continued with his explanation.

"Plus-" but whatever the loudmouthed blond was going to say was suddenly stopped as Radarr shoved one of the bananas from the centerpiece on the table into Finn's mouth – peel and all.

As I giggled quietly at the look of shock and disgust on Finn's face, everyone else began to laugh as well. While everyone was still laughing though, Aerrow leaned over closer to me and said quietly, "This is sort of your, 'we're glad you're feeling better!' sort of party too, since well, I know I'm glad you're still with us to celebrate your birthday if you know what I mean."

Glancing at Aerrow, I smiled as I reached under the table and gave his hand a small squeeze before I whispered, "Thanks." I let go of his hand and returned it to my lap, and glanced at him once more before I looked around the table and smiled. Even Stork seemed to be having a good time today, even if it was only because something funny had happened to Finn without him being the mastermind behind it. Thankfully it appeared that no one had taken notice of mine and Aerrow's conversation, which was good, as I didn't really feel like any of the others asking me why my face was suddenly tinged with red.

Once the others had calmed down a bit, and the heat in my face had lessened a little, I reached over and pulled the banana out of Finn's mouth and set it on his plate in front of him before I reached out and grabbed a piece of toast from a pile near me. I was glad when everyone was soon enjoying their own breakfast.

As soon as the chatter had begun to pick up once everyone was finishing off their food, I asked the rest of my squadron, "Do you think you guys would be up for a quick daytrip to Amazonia or something today? You know, just for fun."

"How could I have fun in a jungle infested with insects and creepy crawlies?" Stork asked me, his eye twitching.

I shrugged my shoulders before I replied, "We don't need to stay long or anything, besides Stork, we could all take our skimmers out for a spin, and you could finally see if the Storkmobile works well in a muddy environment."

Glancing around the table at my other friends, I continued, "There's loads of fruit there if you wanted to search for some Junko, and Radarr – I bet we could find you some more bananas as I think you just gave the last one to Finn today…." As I trailed of, Radarr gave a squawk of agreement.

I thought I may have actually won everyone over to the idea until Finn said, "Are you _sure _you want to go to Amazonia anytime soon? I mean, there were Talons there the last time we went!"

While I tried to think up an argument to prove to Finn a trip to Amazonia would be safe, Aerrow told him, "Finn, I'm pretty sure the Dark Ace would be gone by now if that's what you're talking about. I mean, surely Master Cyclonis wouldn't leave him on some close to deserted terra for too long. Besides, we can take on any of the Talons there easy."

"Still..." Finn began, still sounding unconvinced, however, before Finn could say anymore Junko offered up an interesting, and totally helpful idea.

"We can just stay on the opposite side as the outpost you know. Less chance of running into the Cyclonians there!"

Grinning at Junko, I said, "Right! Besides, if we stick to the opposite side of the Amazonia, we can just park the Condor on that uncharted terra we found." I glanced around at everyone as they thought of the idea before I asked, "What do you guys think?"

No one said anything for a moment until Aerrow stood up from his seat saying, "Why not? Plus, if Piper wants to go there on her birthday, then we may as well. Plus, it could be fun. What do you thin Finn?"

Finn looked up at our squadron's Sky Knight before he replied uninterestedly, "Sure, why not?"

Looking around, I saw everyone else around the table nod their heads yes. Jumping up from my spot, I exclaimed, "Thanks guys!" Turning to look at Stork, I mentioned, "If you're done with breakfast Stork, I could plot you a course so we can get there within an hour or so."

Getting up from his seat, Stork replied, "May as well, I'm done breakfast anyways." Smiling, I followed Stork out the door and towards the bridge.

Upon arriving, Stork went to the helm to await my directions, and in no time flat we were headed towards Amazonia, and would arrive in approximately seventy-five minutes according to my calculations. I was glad that we would get there soon, but I was also apprehensive – I still wasn't quite sure about the decision I had made.

_I just hope it's the right one!_

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Aerrow's POV

Having landed on the uncharted terra, we prepared to fly our skimmers over to Amazonia for a day of fun according to Piper. I was still uncertain as to why she wanted to come here on her birthday, but despite my curiosity, I had refrained from asking, as I didn't really want to say the wrong thing and have Piper mad at me on her birthday of all days.

As I knew that there was still a chance that some of the Cyclonians were still on Amazonia, I had already activated the advanced chroma crystals in my shoes that once more turned my eyes to a hazel colour and my hair to a dark brown, but today I decided to skip out on the green toque.

Looking up from my skimmer which I had been running some last minute checks on, I glanced over at Piper and noticed that she seemed to have skipped out on her usual disguise, but I suppose that maybe she didn't see the sense in it anymore as the Dark Ace obviously would've told Cyclonis about her and what had happened here on Amazonia close to a little under three months ago by now.

I also noticed that Piper had her staff clipped to her belt, and glancing around the hangar bay, I noticed that everyone else had brought with them a weapon, excluding Stork, but I suppose you could almost count the Storkmobile as his weapon if you wanted to.

Mounting my ride, I looked over my shoulder and nodded at Radarr who was already in his co-pilot's seat, ready for the flight to Amazonia. Turning back around, I saw that everyone else had followed my example and were now mounting their rides as well, except for Stork who had walked towards the hangar bay doors and opened them manually.

As the large doors slid open, I gunned my engine and drove off of the end of the runway before landing on the small terra below and skidding to a stop. Finn, Junko, and Piper followed, and we all sat waiting with our engines idling as we waited for Stork.

I heard Storkmobile's engines start up before I saw the Condor's main doors slide closed, and I looked over my head with a small smile as I saw the holographic shield come to life, hiding the Condor underneath a mountain the looked pretty much the same as it had the first time we had landed here on this small terra.

Finally though, Stork's ride flew off of the runway and over our heads, and Stork didn't slow down a bit as he headed towards the edge of the terra. Grinning at my remaining friends, I yelled, "Last one to Amazonia does the dishes tonight!" Before I shot off in the direction Stork had went.

I heard a chorus of whoops and cries of excitement as Junko, Finn, and Piper raced after me, and before long we were all in the sky chasing after Stork while trying to pass each other when we could, or trying to slow someone else down so we could get ahead of them.

By the time we reached the jungle covered terra, Stork had been the first one to touch down thanks to his head start, and after that, Piper and I had landed. Looking behind us, we saw that Finn and Junko landed at exactly the same time, so I called out, "I guess you two are both doing the dishes tonight!"

Piper merely laughed at the look Finn was giving me before she called out to him and Junko, "Don't worry guys! It'll go twice as fast with both of you washing!" Finn just mumbled at the response, but Junko gave his friend a small grin before I he tried explaining to Finn that Piper's comment wasn't meant to be rude.

"Oh come on Finn, it won't be too bad! I mean, Piper's right! It'll go twice as fast with two people washing, and afterwards, we could play a game or something!"

Finn's sour mood from loosing seemed to melt away a bit as he replied thoughtfully, "Yeah… yeah, you're right!"

The two friends exchanged a high five before Piper called out, "Okay guys, now that we're here, I want to show you something!"

Without any further explanation, Piper rode her ride off of the terra again, and once her heliscooter changed from bike mode to flight mode, she hovered above us and asked, "You guys coming or what?" After seeing that we were all headed towards the edge of the terra again, Piper flew ahead of us, leading us a little further inland.

I knew from experience that to get anywhere on this terra you either had to fly or go on foot thanks to the dense jungle, but that didn't really help me in trying to figure out what Piper wanted to show everyone, or where we were headed for that matter. I continued to try and figure it out until I heard the roar of the waterfall in the distance, and soon, we had flown over top of it, and Piper began to descend downwards to a clearing not so far away from it.

Once everyone had landed and had gotten off of their rides, Piper motioned for us to follow her before she disappeared into the dense grove of trees that blocked our view of the rushing river that fed the monstrous waterfall we had just flown over.

As we followed Piper, Finn walked up to me and asked, "Do you have any idea what she wants to show us?"

Looking over at my friend, I told him, "Actually I don't, but maybe she wants to show us the waterfall."

"But we've already seen it! I mean, we just flew over it."

"Well..." I trailed off, trying to think of something to say to Finn in response, but before I could, the trees suddenly ended and before us was the river where I remembered that Piper and I had to run away from some Talon patrols here. Scanning the area quickly though, I saw that there weren't any Talons in sight.

I was torn away from my thoughts however when Finn asked me, "Hey, Aerrow? What's Piper doing?"

Turning my gaze to where Finn was staring, I saw that Piper was stepping from one rock to the next, slowly making her way out to the middle of the river.

"Piper, what are you doing?!" I called out, jogging down the river's edge until I was directly across from her.

Piper stood rigid on the last rock before the river was no more and simply became the large roaring waterfall. "Piper, come on, what are you doing?" I hissed at my friend.

Over the roar of the water, I couldn't hear Piper sigh, but I could see from the quick rise and fall from her chest that she had. By this time, the others had caught up to us, and were standing behind me. Giving me a sidelong glance, Piper gave me a quick slight nod of her head, and as she dove off of the side, my stomach dropped along with her, and I heard Junko gasp.

Rushing to the edge of the cliff with the others following me, we all looked over in time to see a blue cloud circling around Piper before she disappeared into the cloud of mist below.

"Come on Piper, come on!" I muttered to myself as I waited the bright flash of blue I knew should be coming next. But even though I knew it would come, it was still nerve racking to wait for it, and I could only imagine what the others were thinking now.

Radarr seemed to sum it all up pretty well though when I heard him whimper. I glanced over at him and whispered, "She'll be okay Radarr, don't worry." And as if on cue, I caught the bright flash of blue light before I saw a steady glow of red orange in the depths of the cloud of mist before a phoenix shot straight upwards, beating its strong wings a few times before it soared past us up into the sky.

As I got up from where I had been kneeling near the edge of the rock face, I began to walk towards the clearing where we had landed, as the phoenix was circling there. Before I got too far however, Finn called out to me, "Dude, where are you going? Piper's down in the river somewhere!"

Turning to look over my shoulder, I saw that Junko seemed to agree with Finn, whereas Stork and Radarr had already started to follow me. Looking my wingman in the eyes, I told him plainly, "She's fine Finn, and I have a feeling if you follow me you'll get some answers."

"But she just dove over the edge!"

"I said she's fine Finn."

"And then there was a phoenix!"

"It's okay Finn."

"But Piper-"

Turning around, I placed a hand on Finn's shoulder and once more stared him down as I repeated myself saying, "Just trust me already Finn! Piper's fine."

"B-but how do you know?"

Turning away from my friend and his confused face, I continued to lead my team towards the clearing where we had landed before I called back to Finn, "I just know, okay?"

That seemed to be the end of our discussion as I heard four separate and distinct set of footfalls following me into the jungle. It took a minute or two of navigating through the dense bushes, vines, and trees, but we eventually made it to the clearing where our rides were parked on the side of the clearing closest to the waterfall. On the other side, the phoenix came down for a landing, but before it landed, a few swirling clouds of blue surrounded it, and by the time it had landed, it had turned into an Alarian Hawk.

"Whoa." I heard Junko say from behind me, and when I glanced back, pretty much all of the guys had their mouths open, amazed at what they were seeing. Everyone but Stork that is, he looked like he was on the verge of fainting.

Radarr was the first of my four friends to regain their composure, but after doing so, Radarr ran up to me and jumped on my shoulder, giving me a slightly questioning look. I figured the guys would get over their shock soon as well, but that's when more blue clouds surrounded the colourful bird, and once the clouds had dissipated, the guys and I came face to face with a feared Black Amazonian Panther.

I could almost hear Junko and Finn gulp from behind me, but I paid no mind to them as I walked towards the panther that I knew was truly Piper.

"Aerrow! Are you crazy? That's not some kitty cat, that's a panther!" Glancing back at Stork, I asked, "Are you so sure Stork?"

Stork just looked at me like I was crazy, but then suddenly froze up for a moment before he dashed behind Junko and peeked over his shoulder. Looking to my left I saw that the Panther was now standing by my side.

It glanced at Radarr and I for a moment before it turned its feline gaze on Finn, Junko, and Stork. When it looked Stork in the eye, he merely let out a screech and cowered behind Junko. Junko simply gulped and laughed nervously whereas Finn whispered, "Nice… kitty?"

The panther then turned its steely gave upon myself and Radarr fully. I smiled and nodded towards my friend once I saw the blue energy flashing in her eyes. I stepped back a couple of feet, and then the light blue clouds began to whip around her quickly once more until they slowed down and seemed to retreat into the Amp Stone upon her neck, and then that left Piper standing in the place where the panther had been only moments before.

Looking at the guys for a moment, Piper enjoyed the surprised looks on their faces. You could tell Finn was shocked, no doubt about it, but he was probably also thinking in his mind, 'Sa-weet!'. Junko looked quite astonished, but he must have at least been thinking 'wow' judging from the way his mouth was hanging open. Stork on the other hand… well, he had fainted.

Finally, Piper turned towards Radarr and I, a grin on her face. Radarr chirped with happiness as he flung himself on Piper, jumping on her shoulders and rubbing his face against her cheek, happy that she was safe, and I also guessed he was amazed at what she had just done.

As Radarr jumped off of Piper's shoulder and ran towards where Finn and Junko were standing over Stork, making sure he was okay, I rested my hand on one of Piper's shoulders. Once she looked up at me, I gave her a grateful smile and before I knew what I was doing, I had pulled her into my arms in a hug. I was almost relieved when she returned the action though.

Looking over Piper's shoulder for a moment as I held her in my embrace, I saw Finn looking up at us while Junko and Radarr continued to attend to Stork. Finn just wiggled his eyebrows at me as he made a silly kissy face. I frowned and glared at Finn, mouthing the words 'you tell anyone and you're a dead man.' Finn merely shrugged his shoulders, but before he turned around to help Stork out, he gave me a wink and his 'chicka cha!' pose.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes before I lessened my death grip on Piper a bit before I told her, "Thanks Piper."

Pulling away from me a little, Piper said quietly, "I decided I was ready to tell them. I, I know I should've told them all along, but… I just couldn't. But now? Now I hope you can rest easy now that the rest of the squad knows."

Looking down at the dark-skinned girl in my arms, I informed her, "That means a lot to me Piper that you were willing to tell, well, show the rest of the guys."

Piper's eyes began to dance as she grinned and said, "I know it means a lot to you, so that's why I did it. Besides, you can think of it as your unofficial and really belated birthday gift."

Grinning along with Piper, I gave her one last hug, and I pulled away completely before I draped my arm across her shoulder and led her towards the guys as I whispered, "In any case, thank you."

When we stopped a few feet away from the guys, Piper said, "I'll make sure to tell them what they all saw, don't worry, I just want to wait until Stork is up again, I don't really relish the idea of telling my story twice."

Looking down at Piper, I smirked as I said, "I'm sure you'd manage, but please, no more diving off of waterfalls?"

Piper merely shrugged her shoulders in response, shrugging off my arm in the process, and walked towards Finn, Junko, Radarr, and an unconscious Stork as she called over her shoulder, "We'll see Sky Knight, we'll see."

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Dark Ace's POV

Landing in the larger of the two main hangars in Cyclonia, I parked my skimmer and immediately began to walk towards Master Cyclonis' throne room. For the past three months or so, she had left me on Amazonia with a bunch of incompetent Talons. Now that she would finally let me come back to Cyclonia to be assigned a new mission, I was about to tell her something I knew she wouldn't believe.

She'd consider it, but I doubt she would believe it until she had proof. But I'd get that proof, one way, _or_ another.

_Besides, those Storm Hawks and that renegade need to be taught some manners – what better way was there to clip the wings of a squadron than to clip the wings of their leader? For the moment, I'd almost say that it was the renegade that's trying to lead, but if I convince Master Cyclonis that that Piper girl truly is a shapechanger – or whatever you want to call it – maybe she'll want her captured._

_Take the girl, and surely the boy would follow. Clip one's wings, and the other will fall with them – especially if you clip the wings of the hawk turned phoenix._

Smirking, I told the Talon guards outside of the throne room, "Tell Master Cyclonis it's urgent – I have important news regarding Piper of the Storm Hawks, and interesting news at that…."

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**Hmmmm... what shall happen next? Hehe... I know! xD**

**Anyways, be warned, this chapter is the beginning of some time skipping involved in getting two extra stories tacked onto the end of this story. I think a few of you may have picked up on this already, but the title of this chapter was actually going to be the title of the story after this one, but hey, I managed to fit most of what I wanted into one chapter, so hey! It works ;)**

_**Crimson Fox4**_


	14. New Assignment

**Alright, this chapter starts out in Master Cyclonis' Point of View, and be warned - this is where there's the huge time skip to what would've been the fourth story in the 'A Phoenix Among Hawks' series, but anyways! Enjoy, this is the first of the four remaining chapters! **

**I do not own the Storm Hawks, they are the property of Nerd Corps.**

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Chapter 13

_New Assignment_

It's been a little over two years since the Dark Ace came to me with the absurd idea that Piper of the Storm Hawks was in fact a shapechanger of all things. For the first month or so, I was beside myself with amusement, but the more I thought about, the more things began to suddenly become clearer, and yet it suddenly created more questions than answers.

To start with, it was obvious from what the Dark Ace had told me that the girl was _not _a shapechanger. If she had turned into more than one animal, it was only logical to call her a shape-shifter.

The possibility that she was actually a shape-shifter also gave way to the possibility to find out the secret to such abilities as my only other test subject had been such a let down. She seemed to have lost her abilities somehow. I had felt that this new prospect of having a second shape-shifter to experiment on was one that needed to be investigated, so over the past years, I had been searching many of the history books and scrolls when I could.

I had also sent the Nightcrawlers out a few times here and there to attack the Storm Hawks to see if they could catch the girl in the act, but each time before they even reached the Condor, a phoenix had attacked them. Those reports hadn't been bad necessarily though, as the Dark Ace had told me that one of the animals she had turned into was a phoenix.

The other animal she had turned into before his eyes had been a Black Amazonian Panther. Not only had this powerful animal been extinct for many years, it was also the old Amazonian Guardian's signature creature to turn into, which led me down the road to research Piper's family roots – see if she was descended from any legendary Guardian of Amazonia or whatever they wanted to call themselves.

I realize that all of this information gathering may very well turn out to be a dead end, as at the moment I'm simply replying on coincidences and the word of one of my commanders, but I felt that my search for an answer had gone on long enough and that now was as good a time as any to get to the bottom of it.

Turning to the Talon guard who stood at the ready by my throne I commanded, "Tell the Dark Ace I have a new mission I need him to complete."

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Dark Ace's POV

_Finally!_

_Finally Master Cyclonis actually believes I'm telling the truth about this brat!_

Moving quietly through the darkened halls of the Storm Hawks' carrier ship, I continued in my search for the navigator while she and the rest of the Storm Hawks were sleeping. Master Cyclonis had given me the job of capturing Piper and bringing her back to Cyclonia for further questioning and observation. In other words, her luck had just run out - especially now that I had found her room.

Sneaking through the door, I raised the murky blue crystal over the girl's head before it activated and knocked her out. Master Cyclonis had assured me that this crystal would allow me to transport the girl peacefully and quietly back to Cyclonia without her friends even knowing I had been there until the morning.

As I picked up the girl and threw her over my shoulder, I completed the set up to trap the rest of the squadron as I pulled out a small note from my pocket and placed it on her bed. Walking out of the room and towards the hangar bay where my switchblade was waiting, I couldn't help but enjoy the fact that soon – if everything went according to plan – the Storm Hawks would be no more.

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**Hmmm.... That was rather short... is anyone else besides me surprised at this? Oh well, maybe its just me!**

**Well, I'm off to work on a school project, keep an eye out for tomorrow's update!**

**_Crimson Fox4_**


	15. Choose Your Doom

**Sorry that I didn't update yesterday like I said I would - my internet was kind of messing up. But anyways! Here's chapter 13, and I'm in the process of editing chapter 15 now. I'll _probably_ post it up a little later tonight since I was going to post it today anyways.**

**Well, this chapter is in Piper's Point of View (2 chapters to go after this one!)**

**I do not own the Storm Hawks, they are the property of Nerd Corps.**

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Chapter 14

_Choose Your Doom_

I groaned as I awoke, my head felt like it would split in two and when I opened my eyes I could see close to nothing so I allowed them to close. This was not the greatest situation to find yourself in, especially when deep down in the pit of your stomach you feel as though there is something wrong – terribly wrong.

I opened my eyes again and willed them to stay open this time, and as I looked around, frantically trying to find something that could help me identify where I was, my gaze was soon locked upon a window that was letting in close to no light thanks to the bars running across it.

As the headache I had suddenly acquired continued to bother me to no end, I looked opposite the window only to see more bars, but this time they ran from the roof to the stone floor I was laying on. Through the bars, I could see two lone silhouetted figures and I instantly knew that I definitely wasn't in my room on the Condor anymore.

My head continued to pound, but as I looked back at the window again, I noticed this time the red clouds in the background and the unmistakable sound of Cyclonian switchblades flying by. With a mental sigh, I realized that I must be on Cyclonia. The jail bars and prison guards were a dead giveaway. What I didn't know however, was how I had gotten here in the first place.

As my headache began to slowly go away, I tried to look around more to see if there could be any way out, but that was when I heard footsteps approaching from the other side of the prison. With each step the person took, there was a resonating clicking noise that echoed off of the stone walls around me.

Looking towards the barred doorway of my cell, I saw the two guards suddenly stand at attention, and then the clicking noises stopped as a third figure stopped in between the other two before they hissed, "Get up!" When I didn't respond right away, the door to my cell flew open and the newcomer yanked on my arm and pulled me to my feet. Glaring at me with blood red eyes, they spat, "When I say get up, you get up!"

Tossing me to the side, I managed not to cry out at the rough treatment as I felt myself hit the stone wall and then slide to the floor. When I had finally come to my sense, I prepared to sit up when a glowing red object was pointed at my face.

I turned my head upwards and saw the Dark Ace sneering at me, his ignited sword still directed at me as he said, "Now get up."

Once I had struggled to my feet, the Dark Ace shoved me towards the two Talons who were waiting at the doorway. As the Talons held me in place, the black haired man stepped towards me and grabbed my wrists and shot them with a crystal, and before I knew what was happening I was being led through the dark hallways of Cyclonia, my hands bound in front of me with crystal energy.

As we continued to walk through the hallways and got further and further into Cyclonia, I noticed that there were several torches with crystals casting an eerie red glow over everything, as if the Dark Ace's sword wasn't already. I also noticed though that my Amp stone was glowing. Not substantially however, just a soft glow.

I knew that it wasn't quite at the point where it would activate so I could shift into an animal to get out of here, but I knew that none the less I was in trouble. It just apparently wasn't life threatening at the moment.

It really didn't matter to me whether I was able to use my abilities at the moment or not though, I wanted to find out where the Dark Ace was taking me and why I was here in the first place. If I didn't find out the answers to those questions soon and the opportunity to escape or shift presented itself, well, I'd probably end up taking it.

Before my thoughts and plans for escape went any farther though, the Cyclonians escorting me had stopped, and soon the large doors before us opened to reveal Master Cyclonis' throne room.

_As if I haven't been in this room enough over the past few years!_

As they led me in, Master Cyclonis stood, a smirk appearing on her face. She soon waved for my two Talon escorts to leave, and they wasted no time in leaving, the sound of the large doors behind me shutting was a good indication after all. The Master of Cyclonia then turned to look at me, and unexpectedly the crystal energy around my wrists disappeared and the Dark Ace deactivated and sheathed his sword.

I backed away from the Dark Ace slightly before I turned and glared disdainfully at Master Cyclonis. The dark woman before me merely chuckled before she asked, "Why the hostility Piper? We're all friends here."

I narrowed my eyes at her and the man standing beside me before I spat, "More like sworn enemies!"

Cyclonis shrugged her shoulders before she asked, "You obviously want to do this the hard way then?" It seemed that my steely stare was enough of an answer, as she was soon gliding towards me from where she had been previously standing by her throne.

Once she was in front of me, she gave me a forced smile as she said, "You have a unique ability that I'm in need of Piper, simple as that." As I opened my mouth to reply, to tell her she could continue to do her crystal experiments by herself, she cut me off and informed me, "Oh, let me elaborate, I need your shape-shifting abilities!"

As she started to cackle at my reaction, I backed away from her, but then fell to the floor as she reached her staff out towards me, the crystal on the end of it glowing. As the crystal held me in one place against my will, she began to gloat.

"Oh yes Piper, I know you're a shape-shifter. I'm not sure how it eluded my knowledge until now, but obviously you must be a good secret keeper, that or else you merely must dislike the feel of sheer power."

Having gotten over my original shock that Cyclonis now knew I was a shape shifter, I returned to glaring at her as she continued to rant. "Oh, and one more thing – Sorry that the previous ruler of Cyclonia had to kill your mother and all, but obviously they had no idea how to fight against such power."

While I tried to recover from the emotional hit Master Cyclonis had sent my way, she added, "Unlike my predecessor, I know how to handle such power. You merely add it to your arsenal, or you pick it apart bit by bit until you know how it works."

Leaning down to look at me, the ruler of Cyclonia already had a victorious smile on her face as she informed me, "Now Piper, I will let you choose how you wish to spend the rest of your time here in Cyclonia. Would you like me to pull you apart piece by piece until I learn the secret behind your shape-shifting abilities, or would you rather become the Dark Ace's apprentice?"

As I glanced between the now mockingly laughing Dark Ace and Master Cyclonis, I felt as though the room was closing in on me. My stomach had hit rock bottom, and I felt drained of all my energy, and looking at my Amp Stone, I noticed that the charge had grown a little bit, but not enough.

I weighed the options in my mind, and I knew that escape was not an option at the moment. I didn't fancy being torn apart just so Cyclonis could find the answer to the question of what was behind my abilities when I didn't even posses the answer myself. Besides, I knew that option would give me no chance at escape, and most importantly, no chance of returning to my friends.

I hesitated to give my answer as their laughter died down. I knew that if Aerrow were in my place, he'd stand strong. He'd rather die than have anything to do with Cyclonia, but what choice did I have? Aerrow and the others probably didn't even know I was missing yet, I couldn't rely upon them to get me out of here, and I sure couldn't rely upon getting out of here using my shape-shifting abilities until my Amplifying Stone 'decided' that my life was in danger.

Regretting the obvious answer to Cyclonis' question already, a single thought continued to echo in my mind.

_What choice do I have?_

**

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//Le Gasp!!\\ What is going on here???? O.o Don't worry - you'll figure it out soon. This story should be completed and posted by tomorrow if all goes according to plan.

**_Crimson Fox4_**


	16. Apprentice This!

**Again, this chapter is completely in Piper's Point of View like the last one. I have to say, this had to be one of my favourite chapters to write in this story, does the title not say it all? :P If not, please continue to read! ^_^**

**I do not own the Storm Hawks, they are the property of Nerd Corps.**

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Chapter 15

_Apprentice This!_

When I had given Master Cyclonis the answer she had wanted, she had ordered the Dark Ace to lead me to my new quarters. Once there, I had opened the door and looked inside and noticed that the clock across the room said that it was only two in the morning.

Walking into the room, I turned around to see that the two Talon guards from before were now standing on either side of the door. When the Dark Ace saw that I had noticed this, he had said, "Just because you told Master Cyclonis that you would become my apprentice doesn't mean that we trust your allegiance yet – but don't worry, you'll have a chance to prove it soon."

The Dark Ace had given me an evil appearing, knowing smile which sent chills down my spine. I could only imagine what they'd do to make me prove my new 'loyalty' to Cyclonia, but before my imagination ran away on me, the Dark Ace added, "You might want to get some sleep - we start training at six sharp." With that, the Dark Ace had closed and locked my room, leaving me to my thoughts.

It was because of these thoughts though that I hadn't gotten much sleep at all. Even when I did finally fall asleep, it had been filled with dreams and nightmares worse than I had ever had before. One such nightmare had come from the fleeting thought before I went to bed that Cyclonis might make me destroy my squadron to prove my loyalty to her. I didn't want to do that! Especially when I'll never be loyal to her – I'm just biding my time until I can escape from this place.

Until then I have a feeling I'll have to fulfill the new title I've been involuntarily given – Apprentice to the Dark Ace. Part of which includes 'training' which somehow I doubt will actually teach me anything since Aerrow and I have always trained together and he always beats the Dark Ace, not the other way around.

Standing up, I looked at the clock by the door to see that there were only a couple minutes until six. Even if it was only training with my enemy, I was never late for anything on purpose. Besides, I had a bit of anger I wanted to release and usually training was a good way to do that, but being able to unleash it against an enemy? All the better.

Smirking, I realized that even if I didn't want to be here, I could still enjoy messing around with my enemy's head, or rather, hopefully beating them to a pulp. Reaching to my belt, I unclipped my staff that was surprisingly still there. I suppose I must've been too tired to take it off of my belt before bed, but I was glad now that I hadn't, and that the Dark Ace hadn't spotted it when he kidnapped me.

Returning my staff to its place on my belt, I walked to the door, knocked on it, and it slid open as soon as the guards on the other side had unlocked it. Stepping out into the hallway, I heard the door shut behind me, but I paid no mind to it or the guards that stood on either side of me, their energy staves at the ready.

Looking across the hallway, I glared at the man before me while he only smirked as he stepped out of the shadows and said, "Good to see you're on time, now, come on _apprentice_ – we've got some training to do."

I merely rolled my eyes as I followed down the hallway. After a minute or two however, I became annoyed with the two Talon guards following us, so I said, "You know those guards wouldn't be of much help anyways if I decided to try and escape."

"Your point?" The Dark Ace replied, clearly uninterested as he didn't even turn around.

"My point is that if they aren't of much help to you, or to me, then why are they following us? Can't you just, I don't know, order them to go about their business or something?"

Even though I couldn't see his face, I could tell from his voice that he was smirking as he said, "If I have to put up with the bumbling incompetents, then so do you."

Before I could retort or even reply to what he had said, the Dark Ace had led me through an archway, and I was surprised as we stepped out into a large fighting arena that had no lights to illuminate it, and was only lit up with the first rays of the glowing red ball of fire on the eastern horizon. Looking around, I took note of the dirt covered battling area and the high metal walls that surrounded it. I also noticed the bleachers that ran around the walls and that they were currently filled with Talons, and that there was a small elevated area within the stands where an empty throne sat.

Turning back towards the Dark Ace, I asked, "What's the meaning of all this?"

Flipping away from me as he pulled out his energy sword, he stated, "This is what I consider training."

Frowning, I took out my staff and held it in front of me and extended it to its full length. When the Dark Ace saw this however, he hissed, "Sorry, but no apprentice of mine will ever wield a staff of all things in battle like some common Talon."

I raised one of my eyebrows at his words, but I clipped my staff to my belt again, wondering how I could possibly battle against him without a weapon. Just when I was beginning to think that he was expecting me to use my shape-shifting abilities to fight him, a nervous Talon walked up to me and handed me a double sided energy sword.

I examined its two curved blades, on curving to the left, the other to the right. Also, by looking at the metal hilt that connected the two, I saw that if I wanted to I would be able to disconnect the sword into two separate ones.

My inspection of my new weapon came to a halt however when I heard the sound of a trumpet coming from across the arena. Looking into the crowd, I saw Master Cyclonis appear and make her way to her throne. Before she sat down though, she announced into a microphone, "You may begin when you are ready Dark Ace."

Glancing over at said man, I saw that he had walked to the other side of the arena and was now bowing to the ruler of Cyclonia. He then stood up and turned around and with a cheer from the Talons that came to watch the fight, the Dark Ace then ignited his sword and its blade was soon enveloped in a bright red glow.

Moving into a defensive position, I activated my own weapon and surprisingly it didn't light up with the red glow of a firebolt crystal as I thought it would, instead it glowed a red-orange, an almost flame like colour. As I stared the Dark Ace down, there was a moment of silence before I heard a horn, and soon the feared Cyclonian warrior was on top of me.

Diving to the side, I managed to roll away from him and avoid a blow from his sword. Getting up, I shot a bolt of energy at the Dark Ace's back but he quickly turned around and blocked it with his own sword.

The second time when he charged at me, I held my ground and our weapons collided. As we glared at each other, the Dark Ace informed me, "You're doing better than I thought you would, but don't get too excited, I'll still win."

With that being said, he put more force behind his attacks as he slashed at me. I had no choice but to keep moving backwards as I blocked his strikes as I knew this man was much stronger than I was. Unfortunately, I had moved back so far that my back had run into the metal wall surrounding the arena in which we were fighting.

My arms shaking, I struggled to keep his sword away from me, but it continued to get closer and closer as my strength slowly disappeared. In desperation, I glanced at my Amp Stone and saw that it was glowing, yet it still wasn't glowing quite enough.

_How can it __**not**__ think I'm in danger right now?_

Thinking quickly, I gave one last shove against his weapon using my own before I ducked down and rolled to the side. Standing up quickly, I decided it was time to put my training with Aerrow over the years to the test. I hastily unclamped the metal brace that held the two separate blades together as a sword, and in no time I held a glowing red energy blade in one hand and in the other was a blade lit up with fire.

_That's odd..._

Glancing at the hilts of the two blades, I saw that in one there was a plain old firebolt, and in the other was a phoenix crystal.

_So that's why it was a red-orange colour before. Whoever loaded the crystals into this weapon put a different one into each hilt before connecting them, and by connecting them, they shared their energy!_

Realizing that now was not the time to be looking or thinking about crystals, I readied myself for whatever the Dark Ace was going to throw at me… as soon as he got his sword unstuck from the wall that is.

I couldn't help but smirk a little as I heard some of the Talons in the stands trying not to laugh, but soon the Dark Ace had yanked his sword out of the metal, and turning to me he said, "You're going to regret that!"

Before I could attack him, the Dark Ace's body was enveloped with red energy and as he leapt into a back flip, and I knew that he was about to send a giant ball of red energy flying at me. I stepped backwards a few paces before I felt the energy from my Amp Stone begin the flow through my body, but especially in my right arm that held the blade with phoenix crystal in it.

As the Dark Ace finished his flip and the energy was careening towards me, the blue clouds that had been forming around my right arm disappeared, and I quickly raised the large phoenix wing in front of me. I was surprised as I felt the energy from the Dark Ace's attack flow right through my body and somehow end up charging my firebolt powered weapon in my left hand to full.

Knowing what I had to do to defeat the man who was supposed to be 'training' me before this fight got out of hand, I let go of my concentration, and once my arm had returned to normal and the blue clouds were gone, I gripped both blades in my hands tightly, and jumping up, I spun around and flipped as I felt the energy from the two crystals begin to mingle and flow around me before I lashed out with my blades, sending the fiery energy hurtling towards the Dark Ace.

He managed to block it with his sword, but although it did not injure him, there was enough force behind the attack to send him flying into the wall behind him. Once I had landed gracefully on my feet, I walked over to the Dark Ace, and spinning the blades in my hands like I had seen Aerrow do with his many times before, I stopped and pointed one at his neck, the other at his heart.

As I felt some of the remaining energy from my attack finally retreat back into the crystals in the hilts of the weapons, the fiery looking energy appearance I had been sporting moments before disappeared as I stared at the Dark Ace.

He narrowed his eyes and frowned at me, but before he could reach for his blade that was near his side, I kicked it out of his reach. He looked up at me with disdain for what felt like forever before he hissed quietly, "I yield."

The smirk that had been on my face earlier made another appearance as I stepped away from the Dark Ace and I deactivated my weapons. I didn't bother putting the two blades back together, but instead I clipped them both onto the opposite side of my belt that my staff was on.

Before I had a chance to make some sort of wisecrack about my victory to rub it in his face like Aerrow often would, Master Cyclonis' voice came over the loudspeaker saying, "Dark Ace, bring yourself and your _apprentice_ to the throne room immediately."

As I followed a fuming Dark Ace towards the exit of the arena, I couldn't forget the tone of voice Master Cyclonis had used, it had sounded as though she was rather unimpressed. Whether she was unimpressed with me or the Dark Ace, I wasn't totally sure, but I was sure that I wanted to keep these new blades, they were actually pretty cool.

As I followed the Dark Ace through the arched doorway into the shadowed halls of Cyclonia, I looked over my shoulder back at the arena where the stands were now empty. The odd thing was that I couldn't help but feel there was still someone there watching me. Glancing at my Amp Stone, I saw that it glowed brightly before returning to its usual gentle radiance, and I wasn't really sure if it had been shining brightly from me having just activating it moments before or maybe it had simply reacted to my feeling of discomfort from the invisible gaze I had felt on my back.

Trying to push the odd feeling aside, I quickly caught up with the Dark Ace and we walked through the dark hallways of Cyclonia once more. I soon found myself reflecting on what had just happened during that 'training session', and I couldn't help but wonder where that… fire attack of sorts came from. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was like an attack Aerrow or the Dark Ace can do, but, it was pretty close....

_I wonder if I'll ever get to show Aerrow... but hey! I did end up using Aerrow's training over the Dark Ace's. Okay, so we didn't exactly train, but I guess you could say that instead of just using a sword like the Dark Ace wanted me to, I used blades instead. Yeah, a minor detail, I know, but I was defying the Dark Ace none the less._

As we paused outside of the throne room, I finally got my chance to get in my wisecrack.

"So, how often do apprentices beat their 'mentors' around here?"

_Oh yeah - defiance, sarcasm, and humiliation all rolled into one comment – I bet if Aerrow were here he couldn't have done it better himself!_

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**Hmmm.... I seem to have a habit of always giving you guys a mysterious ending a lot of the time... is that a good thing?**

**Well, one chapter left! I'll try and have the final chapter posted tomorrow, but if it isn't, I probably won't have it up until Wednesday or there abouts since the beginning of my week is really busy. But anyways, hope you all enjoyed this chapter!**

**_Crimson Fox4_**


	17. Tables Turned

**Hello again everyone! Sorry that its actually been pretty much a week or two since I planned to have this final chapter out, but I have a feeling by the time you're done reading this chapter (I sure hope you make it all the way through!) you as well will feel it was worth the wait. What am I talking about, 'I hope you make it all the way through' ? Well.... let's put it this way. Imagine how long it took you to read one of my longer chapters in this story, and well.... DOUBLE it.**

**That's right! This chapter has to be _the _longest chapter I've _ever_ written for a Storm Hawks story here on the site. Sort of fitting since its going to be my last.... But anyways! In total, it's just a touch over ten thousand words long (gasp!) and about 16 or so pages... (bigger gasp) So... I hope you like it! And to give you an idea of how long this will take you to read... I'd give it at least 15 or 20 minutes since it took me about 45 to read it carefully and edit it all.... X.x So, if you have anywhere to go soon and were hoping to read this quick before you go.... you might to wait until you get back! :P And I didn't break this chapter up into two or three since there isn't really a natural breaking point in here to do so, so I hope you all survive the long read! (Oh, and the whole thing is written in Piper's Point of View by the way)**

**I do not own the Storm Hawks, they are the property of Nerd Corps. (And I'll never have to type that again! :D )**

**(Oh, by the way, this uploading program is being a little silly and some words that shouldn't be connected are now, so yeah... its not completely my error.... this time... ! Well, what are you still reading this not for? get on with reading this story! xD)**

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Chapter 16

_Tables Turned_

Outside of the throne room doors, the Dark Ace had merely ignored my snide comment, but it had caused him to throw open the doors and stalk in, and if I hadn't known better, I would've thought he was ready to tattle on me to Master Cyclonis for my remark. However, since I knew the Dark Ace considered himself too high and mighty for 'childish games' I had nothing to worry about. Cyclonis was a whole other matter though.

Looking up at us from her throne, Master Cyclonis raised her eyebrow, and the appearance of her face turned into one of question, obviously having seen the glowering expression on the Dark Ace's face which was tinged red with anger. She regarded her top Talon Commander for a moment longer before she turned to me and smirked.

"Well done Piper, you have defeated the Dark Ace and have made him quite angry it seems. I think that in itself would be deserving of a reward if I knew for sure you're loyal to myself, and to Cyclonia."

Trying not to let my worry I was feeling from the statement she had just made show, I informed Cyclonis, "I have not made an attempt to escape yet, now have I?"

She seemed to consider it for a moment until she stood up and replied, "You haven't even been here a full day yet! Plus, how do I know you are simply not biding your time? That you're simply waiting until we trust you, give you an extra bit of leeway, and then - then you'll take your leave."

Trying to counter her logic, I told her, "I could've merely shifted fully into a phoenix during that 'training' session and flown out of here no problem you know."

"Yet you didn't...."

As Master Cyclonis appeared to think about my actions, I asked, "Does that not show allegiance?"

"A small amount, but it could also just show how you're continuing to bide your time. Making us _think_ you aren't going to try and escape and then when we're least expecting it, you will!"

_That's pretty much it, but of course, I should try and continue to bluff my way through this. Stay here until I don't need to be followed by Talons everywhere, do a little sabotage, and then find my way back to the Storm Hawks. I just hope they aren't crazy enough to try and rescue me as that could cause some issues...._

Master Cyclonis regarded me for another moment before she sat down and turned to the Dark Ace and questioned, "What do you have to say about this? She is _your_ apprentice after all."

Glancing at me, the Dark Ace turned towards Cyclonis and said, "Master Cyclonis, I do not know much about her allegiance, but I think as we both just witnessed she is a capable fighter, she just needs to learn some respect. Other than that she already seems to know the Cyclonian etiquette during a fight – cheat!"

I hid my surprise and hurt as best I could by keeping my face etched in stone, but I couldn't help but wonder if using my shape-shifting abilities had really been cheating. I mean, was it really my fault if I was the only combatant who possessed them?

After the Dark Ace's comment, she turned and looked at me – seeming to consider what he had just said before she turned to the commander again as he began to speak again.

"While I do not know much about her allegiance yet, I believe I do have a way of testing it."

"Which would be…?" Cyclonis asked, rather uninterested.

Turning and sneering at me, I could feel my heart being slowly cut in two as he stated, "She should take down the Storm Hawks. I figure it would be more fitting if she took down her old squadron compared to myself or any other Cyclonian doing it."

Master Cyclonis suddenly didn't look as impassive anymore, and as she stood up, she grinned evilly as she replied, "That was just what I was thinking of when I heard that we had some unexpected guests arrive this morning during your... 'training' as you called it."

Looking over my shoulder, I let out a barely audible gasp as the large throne room doors opened and in walked Finn, Junko, and Radarr, all dressed in Cyclonian uniforms with several real Talons escorting them.

_Guys! Radarr is a dead giveaway even if you __**did **__dress him up as a Cyclonian. What were you thinking!?!?!? Oh. Wait. They probably __**weren't**__ thinking._

As I berated the guys' actions in my head, I wondered how I'd ever live with myself if I did end up having to fight them. I could never hurt them, so how would this all work? As the guards shoved them forwards towards me, it had finally just registered in my brain that Aerrow wasn't with them.

They looked at me sheepishly, nervousness being expressed through their actions before they all waved at me and Finn squeaked, "Hi?"

As I looked at the guys sorrowfully, I assessed their predicament. They each had their wrists tied together with crystal energy as I had been a few hours prior to now in fact. I knew that I wouldn't be able to get the restraints off of them unless I somehow was able to grab the crystal Master Cyclonis' Talons had used to create the energy cuffs in the first place.

Yeah, the Talons surrounding them wouldn't be that hard to get rid of if I managed to even free the guys, but then I would have to deal with the problem of facing the Dark Ace and Master Cyclonis by myself since Finn, Junko, and Radarr obviously didn't have their weapons on them.

I continued to ponder how in the Atmos I could get the guys out of here quickly before the two Cyclonians standing behind me gave me any orders, but the Dark Ace soon yelled, "Finish them, my apprentice!"

I glanced at the Dark Ace, sending daggers of hatred at him before I turned to the guys again only to be in time to see Finn crack up and snicker as he asked, "You're." Snort. "His." Gasp. "Apprentice?" Outright barking laughter ensued from both Finn and Junko at the mere thought.

Before I could explain anything to them however, a purple looking crystal suddenly floated out of one of the Talon guard's pockets, and hovered in front of my three squad-mates, it activated, releasing them from their energy cuffs. Everyone in the room, including Master Cyclonis, followed the purple crystal with their eyes as it floated off to an empty part of the room.

As everyone stared transfixed, the crystal suddenly fell to the ground, and once it had come to a stop, it was soon a pile of fine dust as somehow, _something_ had crushed it.

Looking back at the guys, wondering if they had any idea what was going on, I noticed that they were still looking in the direction where the crystal had just been crushed. In fact, looking around the room, I saw that everyone was still looking in the same direction, except the Cyclonians in the room were either looking at the spot with their mouths hanging open, or in the case of the Dark Ace and Master Cyclonis, a fierce sneer adorned their face. Returning my gaze to the area of the room where the crystal had been destroyed, I couldn't help be smile at what I saw.

There, standing with his foot in the dust of the crystal was Aerrow.

Sure, he still had to use his disguise of a green toque, brown hair, and hazel eyes so that the Cyclonians wouldn't recognize him for who he truly was, but I knew who he was and that was all that mattered.

Finally looking up from where his foot had crushed the crystal, I soon fixed my gaze on his face, and when his eyes connected with mine, he gave me his usual lop-sided, almost cocky grin that I had grown to love ever since I had met him. I gave him a small, soft grin in return, but it was soon wiped off my face as the Dark Ace stepped in between us, and staring me down, he yelled, "What are you waiting for, attack him!"

At the Dark Ace's words, I stepped back a little. I tried to keep my face emotionless in response to what he had said, but I couldn't help but feel apprehensive of fighting Aerrow. Really I didn't need to anymore. I mean, the guys had come to rescue me! But yet, I wasn't sure how we were going to get out of this situation with Aerrow and I being the only ones with weapons, and Finn, Radarr, and Junko being close to defenceless.

Before I even attempted to come up with a reply to the Dark Ace's demand, I tried to glance over his shoulder discreetly to see what Aerrow's expression could tell me about his thoughts. When my eyes finally connected with his again, he gave me a wink before he called out, "Don't you want to attack me yourself Ace? I mean, why send your apprentice after me to do your dirty work?"

Glaring at me for a moment, the Dark Ace whipped around and faced who he figured was some insolent teenager before he replied, "Because _renegade,_I fight against Sky Knights and their squadrons. You obviously aren't a Sky Knight so I won't be wasting my time on you. However-" The Dark Ace paused for a moment while he twisted around, grabbed my arm, and pushed me forwards towards Aerrow. As I glanced up at my disguised friend, I heard the Dark Ace finish his thought. "Battling you will be good practice for my apprentice to show _no mercy_."

_Uh oh...._

I gave Aerrow a fleeting look, trepidation in my eyes as I waited to see how he would respond to his enemy's words. I saw his eyes narrow as he spat, "_Fine_. We shall battle then." As Aerrow ignited his blades - which glowed an eerie green colour - and fell into a battling position, I looked between him and his weapons, wide-eyed. Noticing my expression, Aerrow gave me a half wink with the slightest nod of his head to assure me he was still on my side.

I felt a wave of relief wash over me, but I was still a bit unsure as to what Aerrow could be planning. Knowing that Master Cyclonis' and her right hand man's judging eyes must be on me, I reached down to unclip my staff from my belt, but upon hearing the Dark Ace clear his throat and give me a disapproving look, I sighed inwardly and I moved my hand away from my staff. Instead, my hands reached over to the other side of my waist, each unclipping a blade.

Holding the weapons in my hands, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I ignited them. I held the two curved, crackling energy blades at my sides, gripping each loosely in my hands until I tightened my grip, opened my eyes, and fell into a fighting stance that mirrored Aerrow's. Looking up at him, I ignored the uncertainty I felt and before I could stop myself, a small grin tugged at the corner of my mouth. Uncurling two fingers from the hilt of the blade with the phoenix crystal powering it, I twitched them slightly a few times – beckoning Aerrow towards me to start this fight.

While Aerrow's set jaw and tight drawn line that was his mouth didn't change, I saw his eyes light up and dance a little bit at my challenge before he charged at me and swung his blades down half-heartedly at me which I easily blocked. As Aerrow and I exchanged blows again, our blades locked against each other and as we each pretended to press against the other's blades with all the force we possessed, Aerrow's face came as close to mine as he could with our sizzling crystal powered weapons still between us and he whispered, "Just follow my lead and make this fight look real, we'll get out of here."

"How are you so sure?" I whispered back urgently.

Aerrow merely smirked before he replied, "I just know." Glancing about the room and its occupants quickly, he continued, "Okay, let's get on with this 'fight', shall we? We'll just run through some of our more rigorous battle simulations we've done in training before."

"But I learned those using my staff!" I exclaimed, trying to keep my voice low.

Before I could panic too much, Aerrow encouraged me saying, "You can do it Piper. You've used my blades before and you did really well battling against the Dark Ace."

He gave me a small grin before he pushed against my weapons slightly to send me off balance a little bit before he flipped backwards and fixed a fake scowl on his face. As I regained my balance, I took a battle stance once more, and when I saw Aerrow drag one of his feet in a slight half circle in front of him, I knew immediately which training scenario he wanted to try out first to see if we could make this fight _seem_ realistic.

On cue after his movement, I sent forth a burst of energy from my blade powered by a firebolt towards Aerrow, and he was able to block and deflect it with his own blades easily. Following my attack, Aerrow made one of his own, running forward before jumping at me. As the sizzling sound of the energy in our weapons colliding was heard, I blocked the slashing strike of one of his weapons with mine, and then we exchanged blow for blow, block for block for a few moments before we both flipped backwards.

Landing on my feet and sliding back a little, I skidded to a stop and caught my breath for a moment as I turned my gaze on Aerrow. Once he had landed his own flip, he too caught his breath as he fell into his next battling position, as our first training routine had just been completed, and it seemed as though people had bought it. Aerrow must have realized this as well, as he drew his right elbow backwards behind his head, the blade in his hand to the side and above his head, while he pointed his other blade towards me. Once I had taken my own starting position, Aerrow mimicked my actions from before and waved me towards him.

Upon this cue to start, I sprinted towards him and improvised a little. This was supposed to be the part of this particular simulation where I usually used my staff to vault myself over Aerrow's head. Not having this option now, I took advantage of Aerrow's wide battling stance, and slid through his legs, twisting my own around once I was through so that I kicked Aerrow's own legs out from underneath him. It was really supposed to use my staff to do that, but hey. As long as he ended up falling down, everything would be okay, right?

_Besides, I'm sure the Dark Ace must have enjoyed that last part._

As Aerrow and I got up and prepared to battle again, I glanced in the direction of the CyclonianCommander and saw that he indeed had been smirking in amusement, but upon seeing me looking in his direction, his face hardened as he ordered, "Don't just stand there, deal with the pest!"

Looking back at my opponent whom the Cyclonians thought was some annoying renegade; I was surprised to see Aerrow flip backwards. After he had finished his flip, he was now twice as far away from me as before, and I was even more astonished however at what Aerrow indicated through his movements that he wanted to do next.

"No…!" I whispered to myself as green energy from his blades slowly began to climb up his arms. Sure, we had done this a couple times before, but I had had a blocking crystal with me, it diverted a lot of Aerrow's attack, but it still knocked me off my feet. Besides, if Aerrow decided to continue with this and perform the 'Lightning Strike'- his signature move - Master Cyclonis and the Dark Ace might put two and two together.

_I can't let that happen!_

As the energy from the blue strikers – disguised as green – in the hilts of Aerrow's weapons continued to surround his body, I dashed forwards and tackled him to the ground. Once we had both toppled to the ground, his blades had slid away from his hands and had thankfully deactivated before they fell so that no one would've been able to see them turn back to their original blue once they left the power of the chroma crystals in their wielder's shoes. My weapons were close by as well, also sitting deactivated on the throne room floor.

While I pretended to pin him to the ground with my arm pulled back and my hand in a fist, I hissed at him, "They'd have known it's you!" Aerrow's stare that had been one of annoyance after I had tackled him suddenly turned to one of surprise, and then shameful recognition.

"Piper, I-" But before my friend could finish his thought, I felt someone shove my shoulder causing me to fall to the floor near Aerrow and where I had dropped my blades. Looking up, I saw that it had been the Dark Ace who had pushed me over, and now he had grasped the front of Aerrow's shirt and had hauled him up off of the floor until he could look him in the eyes. The worst aspect of the scene before me was the ignited, daunting red sword in the crimson-eyed man's hand.

"What are you doing?" I asked with dissension in my voice as I collected my blades from the floor, and stood up, glaring at the Cyclonian Commander that held my friend's life in his merciless, cold-hearted hands.

He didn't even turn to me or break his gaze that was locked onto the young-adult he assumed was a renegade as he answered, "I decided I'm going to deal with him after all since you obviously can't do it by yourself."

"I had everything under control!" I replied with ire, my hands gripping the hilts of my blades firmly.

Almost mockingly, the Dark Ace replied, "I hardly call the situation under control when you had resorted to tackling him and then hesitating to punch him of all things."

"Here I thought you were the one who said it was in the Cyclonian etiquette during battle to cheat!"

"That's why I'm stepping in!"

"To do what – prove you can beat someone that's younger than you?" At my words, Aerrow gave the Dark Ace an accusing look paired with a smirk of sorts.

However, Aerrow's look of contempt turned into one of discomfort as the Dark Ace moved his sword perilously close to my friend's neck as he hissed, "No, I'm proving that friends are a liability, that they toy with your emotions, and that they stab you in the back! It's best to stab them first, and this is going to be your lesson on how to get rid of pests that you wonder how you could've ever called them your friends!"

Aerrow narrowed his eyes at the Dark Ace's words and how they could easily refer to the men and women of his parent's squadron he had known when he was a boy. However, they flew open as the Dark Ace drew back his glowing sword preparing to strike downwards.

"NO!" I cried before a gasp was pulled from my throat as the light blue crystal around my neck shone vibrantly and its power coursed through my veins and upon feeling it wash over me, I let my weapons clatter to the floor before I jumped into the air with light blue clouds surrounding me. By the time I had crashed down upon the Dark Ace's body, I had fully shifted into a Black Amazonian Panther.

As I pushed the Talon to the floor, his sword slipped from his grasp and slid across the room with an echoing clatter against he walls of the throne room. Upon me tackling him however, his grip on Aerrow had been relinquished and my friend had simply stumbled backwards and fell to the floor.

Having used the weight of the great Black Amazonian Panther to unbalance the Dark Ace in the first place, I quickly leapt off of him before he fell to the floor, and while I flew through the air and felt weightless for a moment, I focused once more and I denied gravity to bring me back down the ground, as I shifted into a fiery phoenix. I circled one of the large pillars in the throne room near the group of Talons guarding Finn, Junko, and Radarr for a moment before I turned towards the unsuspecting and awestruck group of Talons.

Knowing that the claws on the feet of the phoenix were basically the only part of the bird untouched by the fire that always engulfed it, I reached into the middle of the swarm of Talons and plucked Finn and Junko from out of their ranks gently and released them outside of the mob. Thankfully, Radarr had grabbed onto Finn's foot as I lifted him up, as I was unsure as how I would've been able to pick Radarr up due to his size without hurting him.

Turning back towards the Talons that were still gawking instead of going after my friends I had just rescued, or even firing at me, I circled around them as fire spewed out from my mouth. In no time at all, I had created a ring of fire around the now surprised group of Cyclonians.

Satisfied with the barrier I had created, I circled around one of the nearby pillars once more before I swooped back towards the Dark Ace and shot a plume of fire from my beak at where he was laying on the floor, causing him to get over his dazed state very quickly and roll to the side to avoid my attack. Luckily for me, he had rolled away from Aerrow, and in no time at all I had created a wall of fire around the Dark Ace like I had with the Talons. Before he could try to escape though, I circled around him a few more times making multiple rings of fire around where he now stood so that it would be near impossible for him to leap over the flames to freedom.

As the Dark Ace growled in rage, I picked my blades up using one foot, and Aerrow grabbed onto my other foot and after I had crossed the throne room with a few flaps of my blazing wings, I soon let Aerrow jump down and land next to the rest of the guys who were currently facing Master Cyclonis who still stood at her throne. Managing to throw my blades up into the air, I neared the ground and let my concentration go while I was still in mid-flight.

Landing squatted on my feet, I extended my legs, and once I was standing I looked towards the ceiling and reached my hands out to catch my falling weapons. They flipped and tumbled through the air downwards until surprisingly to me, and probably to the others, they landed in my hands with the hilts in my palms, the deactivated yet sharp, curved blades pointing towards the Master of Cyclonia as the final wisps of light blue clouds surrounding me disappeared.

Cyclonis was not fazed by this however, she merely clapped her hands mockingly before she commented, "Perhaps I was wrong before Piper. Perhaps you _do_ enjoy the feeling that comes with possessing and exercising sheer power. But do you know what you lack? Or rather, what you have? You're merciful. You could've torched my troops - even the Dark Ace - and yet you didn't."

As I continued to listen to the immoral womanin front of me talk, I felt a sudden wave of unease pass over me as she elaborated her statements. "It is because you are merciful that you will never be able to become a Talon or Cyclonian in general."

_Well no duh! I didn't want to be here in the first place!_

I held my tongue though instead of voicing my thoughts since Cyclonis once more began to speak. "It seems that your abilities are more powerful than I expected, along with you having mastered them to one extent or another." Master Cyclonis pausedfor a moment while she stared at me before she reminded me, "You know that the alternative to you becoming the Dark Ace's apprentice was that I'd tear you apart piece by piece to find out the secret behind your abilities. You remember that, do you not?"

As I glared at the woman before me, Aerrow looked at me incredulously as though he didn't believe what Cyclonis had just said to me. Glancing in his direction, I saw his visage turn into one of anger, his eyes screaming determination and defiance as he ignited his weapons, pointing on of them at Cyclonis as he exclaimed, "You will do no such thing to her!"

Regarding my disguised Sky Knight with a smirk, the ruler of Cyclonia replied, "A little protective, aren't you?" She enjoyed the slightly embarrassed look that adorned the face of the 'renegade' for a moment before she turned to me and said, "He's right you know. I've changed my mind."

When she didn't elaborate, I asked through clenched teeth, "Meaning?"

Apprehension gnawed at me again when her smirk turned into a sadistic smile as she stated, "When you can't harness power for your own use or figure out how it works in the first place, there is only one other option available." Pointing her staff at me, the crystal on the end of it began to glow red as she hissed, "You destroy it!"

My eyes widened in shock as a ball of red energy flew at me in almost slow motion, yet I couldn't move my legs or my arms, I felt frozen in place. "Piper!" I heard my friends around me cry in warning, but it was only background noise compared to the sizzling and crackling of the ball of death that was heading towards me. Just as I thought I was a goner for sure though, I saw a glowing green form step in front of me before they jumped up and sent a ball of green energy that turned into blue just before it collided with the red crystal energy.

While the attack of green-blue had managed to neutralize must of Master Cyclonis' attack, a little bit still got through, and it connected with the glowing green form while it was still in the air. I gasped as I finally began to think straight and as the figure whipped by me and crashed into a pillar nearby.

"No!" I cried in despair as I saw Aerow's body fall to the floor in a crumpled heap. My gaze was pried away however at the sound of Master Cyclonis' evil cackling. Turning back around, I looked on in dismay as I saw her float up into the air and a shock wave of green exploded from the crystal in her staff causing a great blast of wind to fill the throne room. Like the rest of my squadron standing beside me, I held my hands in front of my face as I tried to shield myself from the wind as I planted my feet to avoid being blown back.

When the wind stopped, I let my arms drop to my sides cautiously and I almost regretted being able to see again, as I noticed the gale had extinguished my temporary imprisonments of fire that had been around the group of Talons near the throne room doors and the rings of flame that had almost created an inferno of sorts around the Dark Ace. Master Cyclonis gave me another cruel smile as she once more pointed her staff at me, but before she could try shooting me again the throne room doors flew open at the same time part of the roof behind Cyclonis caved in.

Looking up in shock, I saw that that several Murk Raiders were jumping down from their ship which had rammed through the ceiling of the throne room. Among them was Captain Scabulous who upon landing on the throne room floor commanded, "Find and bring me the shape-shifter!"

Blinking my eyes in disbelief, I turned towards the doorway only to see Repton with several Raptors standing behind him. All of them had scowls on their faces, but the worst of them was Repton's as he yelled out to the Captain of the Blood Crow, "Whoever the shape-shifter is, they belong to the Raptors!"

"Fools!" Master Cyclonis yelled out to the two groups of intruders. "The descendant of the Amazonian Guardian belongs to Cyclonia!" And with that comment, it seemed like a small war had broken out in the throne room that now had a sudden and unplanned sunroof installed.

I watched in shock as Master Cyclonis, Captain Scabulous, and Repton all ordered their troops and cronies into battle against one another. As their ranks mingled and met in battle, I backed up slowly towards Aerrow, hoping that no one but the Cyclonians would come after me, but it seemed that all of the Talons and even the Dark Ace and Cyclonis were involved in the chaotic battle. In fact, Ravess and Snipe had shown up upon hearing the loud entrance of the Blood Crow.

It seemed the only Talon not caught up in the ruckus was the one that had been holding onto Finn's crossbow and had somehow managed to hold onto Junko's extremely heavy knuckle busters. What surprised me the most was when they handed the weapons back to their respective owners and then proceeded to pull off their face mask and goggles. I was actually astonished that it was Starling that was dressed in the Cyclonian garb, but I suppose if she had done it before she could do it again, right?

As Starling pulled out her glowing purple nun chucks and joined the battle, I turned around, and with Radarr following me we headed towards our fallen Sky Knight.

Once we had reached Aerrow, my hands flew to my face as I choked back my tears as I saw the poor state he was in. My knees suddenly becoming shaky, I kneeled down next to him and Radarr stood beside me looking at his friend worriedly. I felt tears begin to prick at the edges of my eyes, and in my mind, the sounds of the battle around me slowly faded into non-existence as I whispered to myself quietly, "Oh Aerrow..."

My hand reached out instinctively to his to find his pulse, yet my hand froze over his wrist and would move no further. I really didn't want to confirm whether or not he was dead. Did I really want to drain myself of hope that he was alive if I felt his wrist and found no pulse? But in the end, would it be worse if I just didn't check and kept my hopes high only to be crushed? I felt my fingers twitch a little as I tried to decide what course of action to take.

Looking down at the person I knew was one of the most important to me in the entire Atmos, I had to continue to choke back my tears at the sight of his upper body. It seemed that when he had jumped in front of me and had ended up getting hit, he had been hit square in the chest. His uniform had a gaping hole in it, the edges around the hole torn and singed from the power of the blast Cyclonis had intended to hit me. Despite the fact Aerrow's retaliation had neutralized a fair amount of its original power, enough of the blast had still gotten through to be a real danger to his health.

My hand covered my mouth as I shook my head, a tear slipping out of one of my eyes and falling down my cheek freely as I saw the badly burned skin where his uniform should've been, and I couldn't help but wince and worry all the more at the blood that was present. Prying my eyes from his wound, I glanced at a crestfallen Radarr before I looked at Aerrow's face, noticing that his eyes were closed. I had always loved his bright mischievous green eyes. Even if he simply opened them so I could see them disguised underneath a hazel colour, I would be satisfied.

Yet… his eyes didn't open.

I slowly lifted my head and averted my gaze from my downed comrade before I regarded my surroundings. The sounds of battle – the grunts, the metallic clangs, the sizzling of crystal energy – it all came flooding into my ears. No one in particular was winning the battle; it simply wasn't possible when you had four different sides fighting over the same thing. It was like toddlers fighting over the same toy. Sighing, I closed my eyes to block out the sight, but the sound continued.

I heard Radarr whine, and opening my eyes to glance at him, I saw him near Aerrow's head, wrapping his arms around his neck in a half-hearted hug. The scene broke my heart, and I finally snapped. I felt the tears that I had been fighting so hard to control begin to flow down my cheeks unchecked. Sobs erupted from my throat as my hands reached up to the back of my neck and found the knot of the cord that my mother had tied on that fateful night so many years ago. It had been the night my whole life had shattered, but Aerrow had been the one to come along and help me pick up the pieces. Eventually, he even helped me learn to try to control and home my abilities I had rediscovered recently.

Glancing around the room again and seeing all of the fighting going on, I remembered what my mother had told me fifteen years ago when she had first let me in on my family's secret legacy.

"_Piper, I don't want you to tell anyone about what happened tonight alright? If anyone ever figures out who I am, it won't just be the Cyclonians that are after me. Murk Raiders, Raptors, any form of evil would want the abilities I have. The abilities that I most likely gave you."_

_Cyclonians? Murk Raiders? Raptors? Well, they're all accounted for mom. _

As I thought back again to the small events I remembered from my childhood, the most prominent one that kept coming back again and again to the front of my mind was the night when the Cyclonians had attacked my home. Just before my parents had helped me escape, my mother had given me the Amplifying Stone that she always wore around her neck. Yes, she took it off to give to me so that I could learn more about my abilities and its mysteries one day, but she also gave it to me knowing she wouldn't be able to use her own powerful abilities for ten long years. I realize now that she didn't just give it to me so that its legacy and that of the Amazonian Guardian could live on, she did it so that she and her unique and wanted abilities wouldn't fall into the wrong hands.

Undoing the carefully formed and strong knot, I held the strings together at the back of my neck while I thought for another moment. Grasping the Amp Stone in one hand, my other hand let go of the ends of the cord. Holding the small crystal in my hand, I stared down at it with disdain.

"Why couldn't I have just been normal? Why was I given these abilities or this stone in the first place?" I murmured quietly to myself more than to the crystal. "It's because of them that things have gotten so out of hand lately." Glancing remorsefully in Aerrow's direction once more, a new wave of tears flowed down over my cheeks as I added, "And it's because of them that those I love keep getting hurt...."

"I, I just can't do it anymore mom. I can't watch the only family I have left get hurt or killed anymore. I already almost lost Aerrow a few years ago - I don't want to go through that again for real. Besides, everyone knows now. I'm not able to hide my true identity anymore. We'll always be on the run, and what kind of life is that? It just wouldn't be fair to the team." I whispered, staring at the diamond shaped crystal in my hand the whole time.

Closing my fingers over the pulsating blue rock, I groaned before I began, "It's – it's...." sighing, I stated, "It's time to say good bye to my life as a shape-shifter. All I've done is hurt my friends." My shoulders slumped as I said softly, "I'm no hero, I'm sorry."

_I hope you understand Mom, Dad. Aerrow...._

I shut my eyes and a single tear slipped out as I uncurled the fingers of my hand that was holding the Amplifying Stone. Shutting my eyes tighter, I willed my hand to tilt slightly to the side, and I could slowly feel the cool feeling of the stone roll out of my palm and onto my fingers. After a few painstaking seconds, I finally felt the crystal teetering on my fingertips, but before it could fall off and tumble to the ground, I felt a heat begin to absorb my hand before I felt something close my fingers firmly around my Amp Stone.

Opening my eyes, I blinked several times before my blurry vision cleared, and I was able to see that someone had wrapped their pale hand around my darker one. After staring at the hand for a little bit, my eyes travelled up the arm and then I was surprised to see the arm was attached to Aerrow. Blinking a few times in confusion, I finally looked up at his face.

His eyes locked onto mine almost instantly.

While he was staring at me, I unconsciously tightened my grip on the Amp Stone in my hand and I noticed him glance down at my hand before he gripped it tighter than he had before. He gave a small grunt as he sat up before he looked into my eyes again. Just when I thought he wasn't going to say anything to me – just stare until someone decided they wanted to pick a fight with us – he cleared his throat.

My full attention on him again, Aerrow asked me, "How do you_ not_ consider yourself a hero Piper?"

I looked down at Aerrow's hand that still held onto mine firmly yet kindly, and then looking over Aerrow's head at the fighting that was going on all around us I finally turned my gaze back on him as I questioned, "What sort of characteristics or traits do you think a hero should have? If you think about it, I really don't have any."

Aerrow regarded me thoughtfully for a moment before he spoke quietly, "No, I suppose you don't." I felt the tears in my eyes that I thought were gone well up again at his words.

_Couldn't you have lied to me Aerrow, just this once?_

Knowing that Aerrow had just told me all I needed to confirm I needed to rid myself of the Amp Stone and my abilities – if only for ten years – I fought to pry my hand from his, but I was surprised when his other hand wrapped firmly around my hand I was struggling to break free of his grasp.

Annoyed, I began, "Aerrow-" But when I looked up at his face, I was taken aback at the disappointed expression on his face.

As the flames in my eyes died down as my annoyance and anger at my Sky Knight's actions melted away, Aerrow closed his own eyes for a moment. Opening his eyes finally, they had a bit of their usual mischief in them as he said, "You never let me finish what I was going to say." As I raised an eyebrow in confusion, he chuckled softly before he looked at me with kindness before he whispered, "You're not a hero Piper because I don't think of you as any plain old hero. With your kind heart, your love for you friends, and your abilities that are unique to you and you only, I can't think of anyone else I'd be more proud to call a superhero."

Blinking my eyes several times in disbelief, I stuttered, "You, you think I-I'm a _superhero_?"

Aerrow only grinned in reply before he turned to Radarr and asked, "You know Piper's a superhero, don't you Radarr?" The furry blue creature nodded his head with a smile on his face before he moved closer to Aerrow and clambered onto his shoulders.

I gave my two friends a weak smile before I stated, "I'm no superhero either though you guys." They just looked at me strangely before I explained, "What hero, _especially_ a superhero, lets their friends get hurt?"

Aerrow glanced at Radarr before he looked at his chest and then looking up at me, he told me, "Piper it was my choice to jump in front of you. Even knowing now that I get hurt because of it, I'd still do it again."

"But why? I hate being the one that always causes you to get hurt."

Moving one of his hands from where the other still held mine between us, he put his hand on my shoulder, and looking into his eyes, I saw the seriousness in them as he said, "Piper, I always used to be the one with the privilege of protecting you from whatever came our way in a battle or on missions. But now that you're so capable of protecting yourself – far better than I could ever hope to – I sometimes literally jump at the chance to be your knight in shining armour again."

I felt myself begin to blush a little at Aerrow's words before I murmured, "You know your armour isn't exactly shining in the first place...." Looking up at him, I grinned along with him until my eyes fell on his wound again.

As I let my head hang down in shame and regret once more, Aerrow placed his hand under my chin and made me look him in the eye again. Still grinning, he told me, "It's just a surface wound you know. I'm not dead or anything. Everything is okay, and it _isn't_ your fault I got hurt Piper."

Removing his hand from my face, his other slowly let go of mine before bit by bit he gently used his fingers to uncurl my digits that were still wrapped around my Amplifying Stone. We both regarded it for a moment before to our astonishment, the usually slowly pulsing light in its depths began to throb violently, and my eyes widened in surprise as the crystal seemed to almost vibrate in my hands. Glancing up at Aerrow, I saw that his eyes had gone wide in shock as well, but he seemed to recover quickly as he clasped one of his hands over mine in order to confine the vibrating and glowing stone.

When it didn't stop, both Aerrow and I wrapped our free hands around our other hands in hopes that it would help, but of course it didn't. I heard Radarr whine in worry as bright blue beams of light shone through any cracks in mine and Aerrow's interwoven hands. Just as quickly as it had started, it suddenly stopped. Not sure what was going on, I glanced at Aerrow, wondering if he had an explanation ready, but before he could say anything at all, the vibrating of the crystal came back with a vengeance and without any warning, a vivid, luminescent ball of light blue light exploded outward from where Aerrow and I were holding the Amp Stone in our hands.

I had to open and close my eyes several times before I could finally see clearly again after I had been taken so off guard by the bright flash of light that came from my Amp Stone. Before I looked around me to found out why the throne room was so eerily quiet, I looked across from where I stood and gasped.

Aerrow looked at me like I was crazy, but before he could ask me anything, I stated, "We need to get you out of here!"

"Why?" Aerrow's question was valid, yes, but we really didn't have time for it.

"Your eyes are green again!" Aerrow's now naturally stunning green eyes widened as I continued on to say, "Your hair switched back to normal too, and I can tell you're wearing a Storm Hawks uniform despite the big rip on the front!"

Aerrow stared at me in shock for a moment. His eyes swept the room around us, and if it was even possible, they grew wider. When I saw Radarr look around as well and whimper in confusion, I finally gave in and looked around the room. I was surprised to see that everyone in the room were now as still as statues, a lot of them still in the middle of their fights had frozen with a look of anguish and ferocity in their eyes. Well, most of them anyways.

Turning to look at me, Aerrow said, "I don't think we have to worry about them figuring out who I am yet, but just in case maybe we should get going." Nodding, I began to walk in the direction where I saw Junko's head above all the others, but I didn't get very far as Aerrow was still holding onto my hand that had the Amp Stone in it. "Don't you think you should put that back on before we go anywhere? I mean, you definitely don't want to loose it or let it slip out of your hands."

"I suppose that would be a good thing." I replied as Aerrow finally let go of my hand. I glanced at the cord attached to the Amp Stone before I turned to my friend and asked sheepishly, "Can you.... Can you help me with this Aerrow?"

He seemed a little surprised at first, but he soon readily agreed to help me out. As I kept my hands firmly grasped around the light blue stone, Aerrow reached from behind me and grabbed the two ends of the string it was attached to. As he tied the knot at the back of my neck, I couldn't help but shiver at the strange sensation that shot down my back each time he accidentally brushed one of his fingers against my skin.

After a few moments though, it was once more tied securely around my neck. Letting go of the Amplifying Stone slowly, I gave a mental sigh of relief that the cord didn't break or undo itself or something crazy like that. Turning around to face Aerrow who had Radarr on his shoulders still, I looked at his hair and the green toque on his head. Shaking my own head back and forth, I said, "Thanks for the help Aerrow, but try pulling down your hat a little bit more until we figure out what's going on or until we're out of here."

Nodding at my words, Aerrow pulled down his toque as far as he could so that he could hide as much of his hair as possible but still be able to see. Some clumps of his ruby locks still poked out from underneath the winter hat, but it would have to do for the moment.

I grabbed onto Aerrow's wrist so that he would follow me towards Junko, but also so that he would stop fussing with his hair. Yes, it was important to hide it and I had been the one to tell him so, but I had suddenly seen Finn in Aerrow's place making a big bother about how his hair looked. It really wasn't a nice thought to think that Aerrow was like Finn. It wasn't like that was _bad _or anything - I just preferred Aerrow how he was, and Finn how he was.

As we continued to make our way carefully through the crowd of frozen warriors, I couldn't see Finn or Starling anywhere. Sighing, I focused on getting to Junko. The sooner we figured out whether he was frozen or not, the better. Besides – he could probably help us locate Finn and Starling

After another minute or so of weaving, Aerrow, Radarr, and I had finally reached the spot where Junko stood. Upon arriving in the clearing free of enemies around the Wallop, I realized that perhaps I hadn't needed to worry about where Starling and Finn were after all, as all three of our friends were standing back to back.

_Seems they were able to take care of themselves well enough._

I walked around the three, seeing that they were very much indeed frozen – until I saw Finn blink that is. This would've been the perfect time to simply enjoy watching Finn try to stay perfectly still until he began to wiggle his nose - which he would later surely claim was itchy – until he sneezed. Yet, as amusing as that would be, I wasn't sure how long everyone else would stay frozen, so I walked up to Finn and said, "Come on statue boy, we've got to get out of here."

Finn's shoulders drooped before he turned to me and lowered his crossbow from a firing position before he asked, "You really take the fun out of pretending to be a statue, don't you?"

Shaking my head, I refused to reply to his original question but decided to pose one of my own. "Are Starling and Junko just pretending as well?"

Before Finn could answer however, both turned to me and said, "Yes."

Grinning at the two, I said, "Alright, now that that's settled, we really ought to get out of here. I have no idea why everyone's frozen right now or how long it'll last."

Starling nodded before she moved towards the throne room doors as she instructed us, "Follow me, I know the way down to the dungeons."

"Why do we need to go down to the dungeons?" I asked as we exited through the throne room doors.

"Stork is waiting with the Condor underneath a hatch that leads to the prison area." Starling replied.

I paused and glanced back at the frozen figures for a moment until someone grabbed onto my wrist. Turning around, I noticed it was Aerrow who had a hold of me, but before I could say anything, he simply nodded silently towards where Starling and the others were walking down the hallway. Realizing that everyone was getting ahead of us and remembering that we were in Cyclonia and the others may need our help if we ran into any Talons that _weren't _statues, I raced ahead with Aerrow - who had since let go of my wrist - until we caught up with the rest of the group.

As we walked further into the depths of Master Cyclonis' palace, I asked, "Did you end up freeing any of the prisoners?"

Aerrow glanced at the others with a slightly amused look before he turned to me and said, "We were thinking of freeing some of the prisoners before we came and found you so we wouldn't have so many to worry about on the way back, but then we all thought that if we left them on the Condor with Stork things might turn ugly real fast. Plus any Talon prison guards would eventually notice, so we decided we'd free them all _after _we got you."

I thought about what Aerrow had just said before I asked, "What if all of the prisoners are statues now too?"

Apparently having been listening in on our conversation the whole time, Starling interjected, "I was just thinking the same thing Piper." As her expression turned thoughtful, she addressed everyone saying, "We need to hurry just in case we can't find a way of waking up the prisoners if they are frozen like everyone else. It'll take longer if we have to move each one down to the Condor."

Everyone nodded, and soon we were all racing down the corridors of the palace, heading deeper and deeper into the depths of Cyclonia. We didn't run into a single Talon the whole way to the prisons either, well, at least a Talon that wasn't frozen that is. By the time we reached the dungeon area though, we were surprised to see that all of the prisoners were out of their cells already, milling about and chatting up a storm with each other. A lot of them seemed to adorn rather confused faces though.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that we sort of 'unlocked' all of the doors before we went and saw you fight the Dark Ace in the arena?" Finn said as he moved his eyebrows up and down flamboyantly.

Rolling my eyes at my team-mate's actions, I turned to my friends gathered around me and said, "Thanks again for coming to help me out and to come and rescue me guys, but now it's these prisoners' time to be rescued. Where's the hatch that leads to the Condor?"

Walking a few steps to my left where a grate in the floor was, Junko lifted it up and motioning down he said, "Right here." Looking down the hole, I saw that our carrier ship was indeed waiting below.

"Okay guys, we need to get these people out of here before the Cyclonians or any of our other 'lovely' acquaintances suddenly unfreeze, okay? Junko, I want you, Finn, and Radarr to help everyone down the ladder to the Condor and to let Stork know we're coming. Piper, Starling, and I will stay up here and point everyone in your direction and to make sure we haven't missed any prisoners."

Everyone nodded their heads and quickly split into the two groups Aerrow describedto go and do their assigned jobs. After about five minutes, nearly all of the prisoners Starling and the guys had freed earlier this morning were waiting on the Condor. As Junko and Finn helped the last handful of people down the ladder to our waiting ride, Aerrow and I did a quick sweep of the prison area and the surrounding passages and rooms to make sure we hadn't missed anyone. Convinced we had made a clean sweep, we jogged back to the main prison area and quickly climbed down the ladder ourselves after seeing Finn waving at us to hurry up.

Upon jumping down onto the runway of the Condor, I was proud to see that the bridge, the balcony, and even the hangar bay were filled with many different people from across the Atmos that had been rotting in Cyclonia's jail for far to long.

Aerrow jumped down after me, as he had taken a little longer to get down since he had insisted that he needed to put the grate back in its normal place. Now that he was standing next to me, I looked up and saw that his expression was one that expressed happiness and accomplishment. It was a look that I got to see whenever we successfully completed a mission as a team, and I had the feeling he was feeling pretty proud of our success at the moment.

He glanced down at me and grinned before he turned in the direction of the bridge windows and motioned for Stork to power up the Condor as he yelled, "Get us out of here Stork!" While I wasn't sure whether Stork had heard Aerrow clearly or not, he seemed to understand what he wanted, as Stork had given him a quick salute before with a yank of a lever beside him the ship's engines roared to life.

Aerrow and I stood on the flight deck until we were clear of the Cyclonian terra, and then throwing his arm around my shoulders, Aerrow told me, "It's great to have you back by the way."

Giggling as I allowed Aerrow to slowly lead me towards the hangar bay, I pointed out, "I was really only gone for maybe ten hours at the most when you think about it."

"Yeah, well I still missed you. I'm just glad I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep. I went to go check on you and you weren't there."

"You just felt compelled to go and check on me in the middle of the night?" I asked teasingly.

Aerrow rubbedthe back of his neck with his hand that wasn't gripping my shoulder at the moment, but then he glanced down at and gave me a large grin as he retorted, "Well at least I did. If I hadn't, we wouldn't of figured out you were gone until now probably."

I shrugged my shoulders in response, and I was sort of glad that he didn't take the movement as a signal to take his arm off of my shoulders. It sort of made me feel a little more secure when he had his arm around me, and after having been forced into being the Dark Ace's apprentice after being kidnapped of all things, the extra feelings of security were a welcome thing.

Once Aerrow and I had weaved through the escaped prisoners that were still standing and talking in the hangar bay, we were both surprised when the door that led to the hallway opened without us pressing the button to do so. On the other side of the doorway however was Finn. "Piper, there are a couple people waiting in your room that wanted to talk to you...."

Finn trailed off as he glanced between Aerrow and I with one of his eyebrows raised in question. I just ignored his obvious amusement that Aerrow's arm was wrapped around my shoulder. Moving past the blond that was blocking part of the doorway, I was sort of pleasantly surprised that Aerrow decided to come along with me, his arm still around my shoulders. As we turned down one of the corridors in the main hallway that led to my room, I could just imagine Finn's mischievous grin now, but I tried to ignore it as the curiosity as to who could be waiting in my room to see me became overwhelming.

Walking into my room with Aerrow at my side a few seconds later, I was deeply surprised at the two people that were sitting on my bed. They had obviously noticed I had come in, as the man with bright, almost neon blue hair glanced up at me and hushed the woman next to him that had hair as black as the night sky.

The woman turned around to face me, and her golden eyes probed mine for a moment before she rushed towards me and swallowed me up in her embrace as she cried, "Oh Piper, it _is_ you! I'm so glad you're safe!"

As she continued to hug me, I glanced at Aerrow for a second, but he seemed to be as confused as I was, but even more so. Looking behind the woman that held me in a death grip, I regarded the man with black hair, red eyes, and a slightly tanned skin colour like mine.

I blinked several times in shock as the man began to smile widely before I whispered in disbelief, "_Dad?!??!" _

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Muhahahahahahha! Okay, don't spaz out at me just yet for the ending. As you all know, I've been discussing with another author on the site whether they'd like to write the final story in the series, APAH: Reunions, Disent, and New Beginnings. At the moment, it sounds like they should be able to do so and we're just running through some ideas and such at the moment if you were all wondering about that....

**But anyways, what did you guys think of the final chapter? (Besides the fact it was agonizingly long?) I hope I managed to keep you interested enough to keep reading to the end so that you might actually stumble across this final author's note of mine....**

**Well, before I take my 'official' leave from the site, I'd just like to let you all know I really appreciate everyone's input about all of my stories this past year or so I've been on the site. A lot of you, whether you realized it or not, helped me become a better writer. Honestly, if you compare the first chapter of the original 'A Phoenix Among Hawks' to this chapter you just read, you might just see a bit of a difference. Which reminds me. Before I stop writing stories here on the site, I'd like to ask for one final piece of input from you guys if you have time, do you like the 'new' writing style of sorts I've used for the past few chapters? You know, longer paragraphs and a tad more detail than usual? Or did my writing not really come across as different?**

**ANYWAYS! I'd just like to say again, thank you to everyone who's been so faithful in reading and reviewing, and critiquing me to help me improve. I'll still reply to any of the messages sent to me for awhile yet, so let me know if you need further explanations as to why I'm leaving the site. I'm willing to elaborate on any points I didn't make completely clear in my profile.**

**Well, so long all!**

**Sincerely,**

**_Crimson Fox4_**


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